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watch DOC: Retirement Home

Status of the indiegogo campaign, other funding and some reminiscences

Indiegogo campaign: http://igg.me/at/retirementhomefilm/x/4192945 (37%)

I'm now in talks with two companies to support the film and waiting for their response.
I need more than the 1000€ that I'm asking in the Indiegogo campaign: the budget spent solely on the film will be around 2600€ ($3600).
1000€ for the sound mix (an estimate) + 1600€ for the soundtrack (composition, recording and mixing).

Which is not a lot given that this is a feature film!
But considering the time that it took and to shoot, to edit, to produce and do other jobs in order to buy the equipment (see post above). I did an estimation the other day:
40 hours per week x 52 weeks x 4 years = 8320 hours

Let's imagine I'd receive 1000€ per month for making this film. Around 6€ per hour.
Which is the average that a freelance cameramen or filmmaker with a constant workflow makes in Portugal.

8320 x 6 = 49.920€

49.920€ or $68.966

That's the amount of money that ideally I'd need to make to compensate me for all the time I spent working in this film. Will I make it? I doubt it very very much...
And my movie is great, I know that. But there was probably 1 or 2 documentaries in the last 10 years in Portugal that made that kind of money.

The other day a moderator here in DVXuser advised me to speak about the difficulties of making this film.
And I thought to myself that "I'd need to write a book to explain all the crap that I had to endure to make this film!". Maybe someday I will because I need to take that out of my system!

This film started as a commission from an association in the town where the film was done. They wanted me to do an institutional documentary about that association, it's history, workers, etc.
They paid no money but would buy some equipment to make it: an iMac 27', the Panasonic HDC HS300, a cheap Hama tripod and a cheap microphone.
I was 23 at that time. I had just come from Amsterdam where I worked as a scheduler for MGM Central Europe and I wanted to take any chance I could to work in the area.

I started recording everything I could (they have 3 clinics, a pharmacy...) but I was always inclined to their retirement home. I think that in the second or third month I thought "Ok, I could use this equipment they gave me and try to make an artistic documentary."
In that process I thought that the camera they gave me wasn't good enough and I'd have to buy better one.

At first I considered to buy a Canon that I can't recall, but then I started considering the AF101.
A lot because of a video that I found from Bob Gundu, with the Voigtlander 25mm. This one: https://vimeo.com/27936794
The image had the kind of shallow depth that I was looking for and I found the video very cinematic.

I started shooting in October of 2012. It took me about three days to find the right picture profile for the AF100.
If you want to know it please PM me so I can send it to you. It's kind of a secret recipe...
At first I considered to do a few interviews and I did some with some elders but I wasn't liking the way they were turning out so I decided for the film to be direct style documentarism only.

My job was basically the same as one of a fisherman or a hunter. Sometimes I had to wait for the right moments to shoot to happen and I waited. Other times I had to go find them, run after them so I could capture them without them getting away.
I searched for moments that could serve as representation of what it's life in that retirement home, of how it's like to be an older person living in Portugal and how it's like to be an older person in general.

It took me 6 months to shoot, I had days that I shot maybe 4 or 5 hours of footage. Sometimes takes would last 1 or 2 hours. Sometimes they would be fast paced so I could catch different reactions to one particular event.
The worst part was the editing. Besides the really slow paced of some moments I think I had to become an elder myself to try for the film to have some kind of truth.

It's been a year since I started editing and the film had inumerous versions and changes since I got to the 1st version, which was 5 months ago.
The film still needs some work to be polished but I think I'm close.
 
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I am curious about the kind of music you want for yout film. What directions will you be giving the composer? If you want to save some money, you can send me a scene, some directions and I can give it a try for free, since making music for a film is something I really enjoy.

I see you did almost everything by yourself and that's a process that I am also familiar with. I am submitting my film to film festivals and the most adequate category I found until now is "Against all odds" :)

I don't know how many hours of footage you had to edit, but it can be a very monotonous work. In a previous film I did I had to edit over 1200 hours of video and it's something I don't miss at all.
 
Wow! 1200 hours of footage is something else...
I had around 120 but it was a bit hard as well to edit.

Thanks for your offer but the soundtrack is already done. The composer composed wrote 9 original instrumental songs for the film... You can hear 2 of them in the teasers.
If you're interested in watching the film please contribute to the crowdfunding and you'll be one of 1st persons to have it!
 
The directions that I gave to the composer were in the sense of making something that related to the portuguese collective spirit...
I wrote a few texts to him, speaking of how life is in the small villages of Portugal and it's something that he's also very aware of, because he's from Lisbon but he passed a lot of time in his childhood in small villages.
Also, he's a musician from a band that I took a bit of inspiration from thinking about the music, that are called O Experimentar Na M'Incomoda. I liked their guitars a lot and the music composer is one of the guitar players in that band.
 
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I couldn't access their site with the link you provided, but I found them here: http://oexperimentar.bandcamp.com/album/o-experimentar-na-mincomoda

Their music seems to have an element of fun most of the time. I have the feeling that they record traditional stuff and then they really have fun working around it. I enjoyed it and I even had to laugh a few times :). But I guess that the composer is not going to incorporate humour while making music for your film.
 
Thanks, I corrected the link.
Yeah, there's also a lot of humour in Portuguese folklore and I think that they wanted it to be like that... In (Estudando a) Chamarrita for instance, there's a great deal of sarcasm in that song.
What did you thought of the lines of guitar in the teasers of the film?

I only noticed now that you're from Portugal. I think you'll like this film and recognize a lot of things from your own experience.
 
The music perfectly complements (and not just fits) the images on the teasers. I like that it is light and uplifting and I think it's a good way to prevent the film from being too depressing :)
 
Thanks :) it makes me glad that you say that...
It was kind of a great work in itself the soundtrack... Some musics had 15 versions between the composition and different mixes.
 
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