Radio Silence

I don't know why I titled the post as such, but I'm going with my gut on that one. So yeah, nine months after wrapping principal photography and three months after re-shoots we're still editing. Still! But hey, that's the process. Sometimes life gets in the way, sometimes you have to take jobs to pay bills, and sometimes the creative mojo just ain't pumpin' at a rate conducive to cutting feature films. It's all good.

I'm updating today because tomorrow ends a very productive week on the final cut. We're halfway home as of tomorrow, and that's after one intensive week of fine tuning. By this time next week I hope to be making final tweaks and prepping for the pass off to sound and color - those guys have been waiting patiently. I'm so happy with the state of the film at this point I'm almost giddy...almost. Still some hangups, but I'm sure after sound and score and color I'll be quite the happy camper and we'll all have a little movie to be proud of.

Stay tuned and keep it here for updates. You can also check out the website - www.desertrainthemovie.com....the twitter page - desertrainmovie is our user name....or join our ranks on Facebook.

Chop, chop, chop!!!!!!!!!!! (That's the sound of the film being cut. It doesn't REALLY sound like that.)

Indie Film Finance Conference , NYC, April 17-18

They selected me for a panel on micro-budge filmmaking. Also showing select clips from the film in an effort to raise finishing funds. Check it out.

www.iffpc.com

We're THIS close!!!

Missing Links

After 6 weeks of intense, fine cutting of the movie, last weekend we spent 3 days back in Albuquerque shooting added scenes and pickups to complete the film. As the movie became more clear through the editing, I decided to add a slew of scenes, which equal 12 screen minutes or script pages, roughly, in an effort to solidify the story. I knew I would be missing something after attempting to shoot a feature in 10 days, and if you follow the blog you know I did NOT like the idea of additional shooting, but I had no choice. We've come this far and the additional scenes really make a difference and we were efficient enough to get them cut into the film for our Los Angeles Film Festival submission, which went out this past Friday, March 5th.

Along with the shooting of new scenes, we spent time re-recording dialogue, due to sound issues, mostly, and adding dialogue to help restructure scenes and story. This was all sound work, most of which we were able to do ourselves at our home in Rio Rancho. It was a real "no frills" ADR session. For the most part it worked just fine. The key for us in shooting additional days and recording ADR was keeping the cost down. We did. Traveling cast and crew (all 5 of us :), shooting 3 days, a week of ADR and editing, equipment, etc., cost us less than the $2500 we had budgeted. The savings will go to a much needed sound mix. Sound mix and color correct are the last frontiers in making the film really pop.

The funds for those technicalities as well as any other funds needed may come via the NYC Indie Film Funding Conference which is being organized by B.K. Copsky and runs in New York on the 26th and 27th of March. Desert Rain is one of a handful of films selected for this 1st annual event. We will screen our 80 minute rough cut in front of a room of execs with the ability to help us finance the remainder of post-production. Needless to say we're excited about this opportunity and feel the movie is ready to be seen by such a group.

We're really happy with where the film is at. It has a flow to it that viewers will respond to, and Dan and Skye are characters an audience will root for. I think the story and pacing are 95% there - another week of fine cutting before the conference will be the final touch.

With all that said, DR should be ready for Spring, as scheduled. Stay tuned here for any and all screenings and premieres. We're confident, with the latest cut, that news of multiple screenings throughout the country will be coming in the very near future.

Thanks for following and if you haven't checked out our website already, please do - www.desertrainthemovie.com.

Holiday Hiatus

Okay, okay, I know it's been awhile, but I've been determined to post something in December, so here it is, an official DR update.

There are a few things going on DR at the moment, even in the midst of holiday preparations and festivities. The website should be up in the next week and can actually be seen now in it's construction phase. Feel free to check it out. I always like looking at new developments as they're being constructed - one can imagine all the possibilities at this stage in development. I hope you feel the same about the site. www.desertrainthemovie.com. We'll be polished and live soon enough!

The cutting is on hold until after the New Year. Since I'll be doing the bulk of the fine cutting, I've decided to take a healthy break to regain a fresh perspective. In the meantime, besides building the official website, I've been sharing the cut with fellow filmmakers and established producers that have been down the post-production and distribution road before. The feedback has been encouraging and constructive, and I've been collecting the notes. Needless to say, I'm excited about the outlook for our film.

We're presently planning another shoot day - there are a few scenes to be added that will strengthen the story - and another shoot day means more cash to raise. Along with the additional shoot day (in ABQ) we need a full sound mix and score, and some ADR, along with color correcting. A local (Brooklyn) producer, after viewing our cut, was kind enough to offer color correct services at no cost. Big lift. The cost of sound and music work has been estimated and I'm preparing to hit the street with my begging cup after the New Year to get the relatively small amount of funds to finish DR and get it right and ready for the world. I'm feeling good about the prospects of finding support.

If you factor in the day of shooting, the fine cut, sound mix, score, etc., the sum of that equation equals DR ready for any and all festivals and/or distributors early spring, 2010. That's the plan and I'm certain nothing will stop us from getting this done on schedule. We're all looking forward to sharing Desert Rain with all of you.

If you haven't checked out the trailer, we're on YouTube. Follow this link: tinyurl.com/drtrailer. We're also on twitter: twitter.com/desertrainmovie.

Thanks for your continued support and Happy Holidays!!!

The Trouble With Post

That's right, post production can be troubling.  I'm finding it's much easier to get people on board with your insane demands for the short term of a 10 day shoot schedule than it is for the long term of a multi month post process.  During production, you're in the midst of it, in the heat of the battle, and pure adrenaline drives all forward in lieu of hard cash.  During post, I found it much more difficult to inspire the troops on a daily basis and keep a solid momentum for the almost 2 months of rough cutting.  The other problem with post is this - all of the problems created while shooting are there in your face and require much more work to solve.  When shooting, you're always going forward, regardless of what happened before.  During the post process, you go forward until you realize, "Oh crap.  Did we REALLY do that?"  And now you MUST go backwards!

The plan now is to take a few weeks, probably two weeks, to step back and do nothing DR.  Then we'll watch the rough cut.  After watching the rough cut, we'll make a determination of what needs to be done to make the film complete and final - and what it will cost to do so, since as I mentioned, no monies in post equals less getting done.  Part of the purpose of the rough cut was to have a showpiece for raising the TBD finishing funds needed to make DR as good as it can be, so the plan is in place and we're moving forward on the plan soon enough.  What kind of things need to be done to the film to make it right?  Possibly a day of shooting (I hope NOT!), definitely some ADR, sound design and mixing, color and picture correcting (reframing, cropping, etc.) and the creation of a DR website with all the gadgets.  This is most of what's still needed, though I'm sure there's other stuff to be done - oh yeah, like scoring, securing rights to music already contributed, and settling actor deal memo issues.  Maybe that's it?  Maybe not. :)  

The great news to come out of post is this - we have a nice film that really moves.  We made a feature for under 10K and it looks great.  Overall, we did a good job and I'm proud of the work - it's a miracle the film is what it is.  We simply need to make it as good as it can be, and that's what post is all about.  We're almost there, and we won't stop until we get there...or at least I won't.

Our first goal in post was achieved - we thankfully and successfully made our deadlines for SXSW and CINEQUEST.  I really wanted to submit to DURANGO since it's so close to ABQ, but they do NOT accept rough cuts.  Screw them!  :)))  I'll have to find another fest within traveling distance, though I'm hoping we make SXSW and cast and crew find time to make the trip.  Next deadlines are the L.A. FILM FEST and TRIBECA, both in December.  Stay tuned...

And oh yeah, if you haven't seen the trailer, check it out on YT.  Here's a link - http://tinyurl.com/drtrailer.  Enjoy!  

We Can See The Light!

An early promo shot for DR.

I know - it's been a dang month since I updated, but we've been cutting the film obsessively, every minute...okay, not every minute, but our goal is the SXSW November 5th and it took a mammoth effort by all to make it happen, and guess what?  It's happening!

Tomorrow, Thursday, we make a last pass on cutting.  Our intention (and it's a must) is to "lock picture" tomorrow, then prep the film for our sound mixer/designer, Richard Seitz, and our color correct/image correct guy, Charles.  Both of these gentlemen are pros and friends of myself or Ryan, and they're giving us their services for next to nothing.  I can't say enough how much it means to have such contributions.  I've said it in earlier posts - people have been so kind to us, and it's continued through post.  Rich and Charles will need roughly 10 days to finish their work, with no help from me, which is great news - we get a mini vacation from the picture.  :)  Maybe I'll go to a movie, or have a beer somewhere.  I miss those little things.

We've been cutting sound and picture for 6 weeks now, and we're very happy with where we're at.  The movie has a flow to it, it really moves.  It's clocking in under 85 minutes!  Our tagline will be "Come see our film and we'll have you home in time for Dexter."  

We're also submitting to Cinequest, San Fran Int'l, and Durango - we love the city of Durango and it's close to ABQ.  These fests share the same deadline as SXSW.  This is our first round of submissions.  We have a list of fests with submission deadlines over the next few months, and we'll hit them all.  After the initial round of submissions, we're scheduled to take a month off from cutting, then make another pass based on our fresh perspective, for the next round of submissions.  I expect that pass to be minor lifting at most.

Before being completely ready with this cut, we do have a few chores to complete.  There's more music to collect and lay in.  We have roughly 16 songs for our soundtrack, all contributed from artists we know.  Angie has worked hard to collect these songs, meeting with artists, going to performances, pushing them into recording studios...she's handled the music portion of post.  We also need to record a mock radio broadcast for the final sequence, which we have scheduled for Sunday.  We then lay that into the film on Sunday night.  We do NOT need to record score for this cut - we're submitting with a "temp score" and we've been in discussions with a few artists about scoring the film...including one major recording artist.  Stay tuned!

We made the SXSW deadline and now we're keeping fingers crossed because we REALLY want to make it INTO the SXSW Festival. Either way, we'll get in somewhere out there, and we will certainly spread the word when it happens. Desert Rain will be coming to a film fest near you soon enough! :)

Lessons Learned

It's exactly a week since we arrived back in New York after making DR in Albuquerque, and with a week of R&R mixed with watching and reviewing the footage, I've had the chance to digest what it is we did in those two weeks in the desert, and how we can do things differently next time.  Next time???   I know, we just got back and there's still work to do on this one, but I'm so excited about the footage I can't help but believe "next time" is going to come before we know it - I'm already churning with ideas. 

So here are a few lessons learned in the making of Desert Rain:

This one is a maybe...still thinking about it, but I'm thinking next time I will NOT shoot in sequence, or at least not shoot the 1st scene on the first day.  The reason?  The opening of your film should be strong - in our opening, our leads get evicted and have their car repossessed.  The strength is there in content, but when I say strong, in this case I mean strong technically...the camera work should be solid, performance solid, direction solid...all across the board.  On the 1st day of shooting you're probably NOT going to be there yet.  We needed time to warm up - we really hit a stride a few days in, but up front we were still searching, and though the audience may still be searching early as well, still getting to know us, I think you want to start with something less significant on the front end of your schedule.  I said maybe to open this statement - the maybe lies in the fact that MAYBE the actors benefited from starting at the beginning.  They really grew into the characters as the story evolved and the drama heightened.

Which leads me to my next lesson - rehearse.  We had the opportunity to do this, but I chose NOT to.  I get bored easily, so I thought it would benefit all if the scenes were fresh to us, especially me.  I was wrong.  I SOOO enjoyed working with the actors, that I wish I would have spent a little more time rehearsing scenes.  There were plenty of discussions beforehand - we really searched for answers together - but maybe we should have played some stuff out before the cameras rolled...again, maybe...I know, I'm so wishy washy.

If you want to direct, get a DP!  I have plenty of experience shooting and operating camera.  Some people actually think I'm pretty good at it.  Most of the footage in DR is striking, but some of the shots reminded me of the fact that I was wearing 10 hats at once, and if the direction didn't suffer, the photography did, and if the photography didn't suffer, the craft service did.  Point is, you can't do it all, especially if you're directing.  I tried to get a DP but it didn't work out.  In the end, I hope most people think I'm crazy for suggesting anyone else could have shot this film the way I did, but that may be wishful thinking.  Next time, I get a DP, even if I win awards for the photography.

Use a friggin' monitor!  I had all these wonderful ideas in pre-production.  One of them was, if we want to make a feature in 10 days (we needed 11 plus a b unit day) you can't have people standing around looking at a monitor.  I figured the flip screen on the camera was enough, well guess what, it's not!  The damn thing lied to me!  The actual image projects slightly wider than the screen, and in some shots we see things in the frame, like boom poles, and camera filter holders, that I did NOT see when shooting.  We'll need to crop and resize a few images because of it.  I think we did work faster without the monitor, but a little 7" screen would have been just fine, even if it meant an extra day of shooting.  Use a monitor people - I will for sure next time.

Work with what you have.  We DID do this, so in this case I'm stating something that worked for us and allowed us to achieve our goal.  We shot with the money we thought we could actually raise and did not aim higher - we can get X amount of dollars, that's our budget.  We used locations we knew well and had ties or ins to, we used cast members we knew or came referred, wardrobe and props we owned, and so on and so on...the car Dan and Skye drive throughout the film is actually owned by our lead actor, Dan Van Hart!  That's the way to make a no-budge film!

Here's another thing we did - we were ambitious in our story.  We raised the stakes.  Many indies think they need to have two people in a room talking about shit no one cares about, except the filmmakers and their friends and family.  We took an indie, maverick attitude toward our production technique, and applied that shooting method to a film with high stakes, action, and drama.  We have fights, a kidnapping, a car crash, a crazy number of locations, police vehicles, and guns.  Our characters make tough decisions that lead to real consequences.  The story twists and turns.  There's little sit and talk here - we really went for it.  We're taking the audience on a ride.  That's what you need to do at any budget level.  It's not easy.  You have to be ambitious and find a way.  That was our greatest strength - making big things happen with the very little we had.  And you know how we did it...

Don't take no for an answer!  It takes a lot of effort to make a film - ask anyone who does it or anyone who was around us when we made the film.  It also takes a lot of guts and moxie.  Use that moxie.  Let someone know when they say no, that's not acceptable - you're blood and guts are in this thing.  We shot at a popular restaurant in ABQ.  We had permission to be there, but there was one issue - the music was on.  We asked to have it turned off while we shot our scene for sound considerations (and music clearance issues!) - keep in mind, they were still operating as we filmed.  We were told no, they couldn't turn it off - it would turn off their whole PA system.  I told the manager, look, we've been out here making this movie for 10 days now, we're working our ass off to create this thing, it means a lot to ALL of us this little thing we're doing and if he could take one minute to go downstairs and turn this music off for no more than 20 minutes I would really, really appreciate it.  I pleaded with the guy - he saw how much it meant to me, and he did it.  We got the shot.  We had moments like this everyday, weaseling our way in and out of locations and trouble...our will and determination guided us past these obstacles.  We NEVER took no for an answer - not once.  With no insurance.  With no money to offer.  With no permits - we always pressed for a yes, and we got it.

Last thing I'll say here, and we did this, so I guess again it's not REALLY a lesson learned, but sometimes we DID lose sight of this simple idea - enjoy yourself!  There's nothing more exciting to me than making movies and if you're going to do it, enjoy it, the whole process, good and bad.  There's no experience like it, it comes and goes so fast, so enjoy it, relish it, have a laugh, live in that moment...and then do it all again next time. :)