We are moving

The Filmmaker's Journal is moving and will be giving wordpress a try. If we like it I like it I will stay if not then I'll be back here. You can follow the Journal at http://filmmakersjournal.wordpress.com

hope to have you along.

Character or Genre

I was watching the movies Resident Evil and Resident Evil: Apocalypse and notice the distinction between the two to be quite drastic. Resident Evil I thought was far better than Resident Evil: Apocalypse for one reason, I cared about the characters. While those are just one example of character and genre it was a pretty good example.

Resident Evil was a rather successful film in the fact that they created suspense, horror and mystery all in one film. The story opened with non stop thrills until the end and had me trying to figure out more of the story with every plot twist. The key element I found was that the movie was a story about characters and their discovery that happen to run into a virus that is infecting people in a bad way, and they don't know how it is happening and they must figure it out or face infection or even death.

Resident Evil: Apocalypse is different in the fact that when the movie starts the hype begins with a thought of, "what is going to happen next." The sense of mystery quickly dissolves when there is a lot of blatant exposition that solves all mysteries and leaves nothing to the audiences imagination. This second movie in the series loses its unique intrigue and no longer becomes a movie about characters and what they must learn and becomes a movie about zombies with a few characters in it. To top it off the threat level goes down because the audience now knows how to kill the undead and it becomes a movie about who has the most super powers and is prettiest who will survive.

I think James Manogold hit the nail on the head in his commentary to the movie 3:10 to Yuma. He said that often times directors get all excited about making a western [genre] movie and watch as many western [genre] movies as they can. The result often ends up with them trying to make a movie that has all their favorite parts about the genre result in making a movie about a genre instead of making a movie about the characters. -- The characters are what people relate to because they would be a character in a movie not a genre in a movie.

My end thoughts are: Don't make a movie about a genre, make a movie about the characters.

Plot Holes

I was watching Bounty with some friends who had not yet seen it and made a few discovers that were confirmed by some of their comments afterward. As a writer and filmmaker I always develop a very detailed back story for each character to give them depth. Now I have learned more about how to incorporate those back stories into the script having gone through the process a number of times since my first Screenplay, Bounty.

The big learn that I realized was even though you may have a detailed back story to give reasons as to why characters do certain things the audience does not know those back stories and it thus creates a plot hole in your script. We may know exactly why someone acts a certain way, why a character is allowed to stay alive, etc. but the audience will often times walk away asking, "why not just shoot the guy and be done with it." As writers we need to let the audience know why a character does things they way they do them. The challenge is to not make the reveal blatant exposition.

Humblings of Criticism

So it has almost been three weeks since my film, Bounty, was release on DVD and BluRay and it has been interesting, especially reading the reviews people have on the film. I find it very funny reading some of the reviews that absolutely despise the film and have nothing good to say about it, then the next day I meet someone who loved it.

I would have to say that the whole experience is very humbling yet at the same time I have learned to ignore some reviews and really take to heart others. I'll be the first to admit that I can make the next one better but one thing that would inhibit me from improving is if I blew off every negative comment about the film with the mentality of "they don't know what their talking about." Behind every comment there usually is an element of truth and many of the reviews I have read to be the most helpful have pointed out things they do appreciated about the movie as well as thinks that they feel fell short of the genre or a quality film.

In short, even the ones that make some pretty ridiculous statements have something to say that may help me improve on the next film. My art has matured greatly since I made Bounty and I can only get better from here. So, with more attention to editing, power lines, script, sound...and hopefully a longer shooting schedule. The next movie will be leaps and bounds better than this one.

Everyone has to start somewhere and fortunately my first start actually landed a distribution deal. And there is more to come!

Diligence is Golden: Stick to Your Guns

As an independent filmmaker who is recently distributed I have learned lots of things that I did incorrectly on my first film.  Unfortunately I did not discover these mistakes until delivery for distribution.  It is always so very important to do things correctly from the beginning because it will always bite you in the butt towards the end.

For the rest of those independent filmmakers out there, we all know of our fun little production binder that we create for each project that we make.  We feel so organized by having them and they become very valuable while shooting, but how useful are they when the cameras wrap and the final cut is ready to be delivered?  Let me run through a list of binders that you should have and what I found to be the most important things to have in those binders.

My binder usually consists of the following:

• Master Contact List
• Shooting Schedule
• Script
• Shot List
• Locations
• Vendor List

As you can see I am missing some very important things in this list so let me tell you what the binders you have should contain.  The biggest learn I have made is not so much what should be in each binder but how many binders.

This next binder list is probably the most important and you should always have two copies of them.  When it comes time to deliver your film to the distributor they are going to ask for these things anyway, so might as well start getting it ready as soon as you start on the film.

• Crew Deal Memos/Agreements (make sure that there is a clause that states their voice or image can be used in any form while working on the set) - every crew member should sign one of these
• Cast Releases (this is not just the principles but every single person that appears on camera)
• Appearance Releases (If anyone comes  on set you should have them fill out a release stating that you have permission to use their voice or image in any form for exploitation of the film - usually a typical likeness release or image release would be adequate i would assume)
  
  **sometimes if you are hiring someone to take care of a department for you they may not have their crew sign releases -- make sure they do it and you have a copy
  
  
• Script Registration (Any Proof the idea was yours or that you have rights to the story)
• Trade Out agreements (if you have made deals with any company that should be appearing in the credits or on the screen include those agreements)
• Stock Footage Licenses
• Composer/Music Agreements and Licenses
• Ownership Agreements/If you have any special agreements with producers
  
  **Most of these items are considered to be Chain of Title Documents**

Make sure that everything in this binder is duplicated so that you have a second binder that is identical to the original.  This second binder will be what you can deliver to the distributor when you are handing over your final deliverables.

Each distributor's deliverables will vary slightly but for the most part the are generally similar.  A suggestion would be to start calling up distributors while in Pre-Production or development and see if you can get them to send you their delivery requirements so you can plan accordingly.

**Note**

Many distributors like it when filmmakers call them up in development to find out if a story they have would be something that they would be interested in distributing.  A lot of the time they will make suggestions on how to make it more marketable and may possibly give you a letter of intent for distribution which can be something that you may be able to use to raise some money.

**End Note**

You may wonder why I titled this post "Diligence is Golden: Stick to Your Guns", well when you are working in the Ultra Low Budget sector you may be dealing with a lot of favors and people will want to be paid under the table and not want to fill out paperwork.  Don't let them, there are plenty of quality set workers and actors out there that are willing to sign a release, so tell them that if they don't sign the paperwork then they can't work on the film.  I had a few of these instances pop up while trying to get our delivery items together.  Trust me, that it is much easier to get it on set before you leave.  Stick to your guns and don't let them not want to sign.  Without these papers the distributor will not be able to distribute your film and that's not what you want, is it?

Script in a Month

So I took the plunge and am trying to write a 100 page screenplay by April 30, 2008.

http://www.scriptfrenzy.org/eng/user/260574

Although I only want the script to be 90 pages I will try to stretch to 100 for the program.

Script Frenzy

As many of you know, it all starts with the story. Without it you don't have a film. Well, here is a great opportunity for you to have a crack at writing. There has been mention that taking your time breeds quality and filters out the trash. That I do agree with, but one method I have for writing is to plow through the first draft, get it on paper. Do it as fast as you can so you are no longer thinking about it and you actually have it done, once that is done go back and start the rewriting process.

So what is the opportunity you ask? Script Writing Month with Script Frenzy - http://www.scriptfrenzy.org.

Starts in April, roughly 40 days away. I am going to have a crack at it as well as am attempting to write another screenplay by June. We'll see what happens.