Short film project

PugLifePro

PugLifePro

Hey guys.

So, after seeing sfoster post about his short film experience, I figured I'd maybe do the same. I'm hoping to get some guidance from you smart people of indietalk when I need it!

I'm planning on starting a short script tomorrow based on a short story I wrote for an English class last year and hoping to film it sometime later this month.

I will be writing, directing, and editing the film. My girlfriend is probably going to be my cinematographer since she owns a photography business and knows her way around a camera far better than I do. I'm also hoping to grab another friend that I interned with this summer to be my audio guy since I literally know nothing about audio. He's crazy good with post production audio things (and I think I'll be able to steal some mics from him for the shoot :rolleyes: ).

Not sure how I'm going to find my actors since I'll most likely be filming this in Indiana (I'm from Chicago).

Right now I'm working with a Nikon D5100 as my camera. I know it's not the best, but hey, it gives relatively decent quality video. I originally bought it to do photography, but it turns out I like film a whole heck of a lot more, so I'm stuck with it for a while. My girlfriend has a Canon of some sort. Maybe a Rebel? I'm not entirely sure. The audio guy I'm going to work with also has a newer Rebel and a Rode mic that I'll hopefully be able to snag even if he's not able to help with production. Other than that, I have a host of DIY gear like a fig rig, a table dolly, a small jib, and several tripods.

Also, I'm an Adobe guy. Premiere Pro is my weapon of choice for editing and Adobe Story is what I'm going to be writing with. Hopefully it's decent, I messed around with it a bit today and it looks like a major huge step up from the free Celtx that I've used in the past.

Anywho. I wanted to post this here so that I had some motivation to get started. Something I haven't had the last few weeks.

Lastly, if you're in the Chicagoland/Indianapolis area and want to find out more about it or possibly help out in some way, drop me a message! I'd love to network a bit. I can't offer you anything in terms of money since I'm a very poor, very recent graduate, but I might treat you to dinner when we finish or something.
 
Well I hope to follow this project and see how it goes!

Any things you are nervous or unsure about? What are you planning to do with the film once done? Festivals? Youtube? Vimeo? Other?
 
Thanks Chimp!

Right now I'm not too nervous about much. I got a little stressed out when I realized how much I would have to change the short story to make it work as a screenplay, but that's part of the fun, too. Other than that I'm not too worried. I haven't really directed anything with people that weren't my classmates or close friends, so when that time comes I might get a bit uneasy, but it shouldn't be bad.

I'm probably just going to throw this one up on Vimeo/YouTube. If it turns out as well as I'm hoping, I might try to enter it into some smaller festivals, but I don't have high goals for the first go. High goals meaning a huge international festival or something like that, I do have high hopes that it turns out though.
 
PugLifePro said:
Thanks Chimp!

Right now I'm not too nervous about much. I got a little stressed out when I realized how much I would have to change the short story to make it work as a screenplay, but that's part of the fun, too. Other than that I'm not too worried. I haven't really directed anything with people that weren't my classmates or close friends, so when that time comes I might get a bit uneasy, but it shouldn't be bad.

I'm probably just going to throw this one up on Vimeo/YouTube. If it turns out as well as I'm hoping, I might try to enter it into some smaller festivals, but I don't have high goals for the first go. High goals meaning a huge international festival or something like that, I do have high hopes that it turns out though.
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If you can, shoot lots of (good) BTS footage. You could release those on Youtube, following a filmmaker going through the process of making a short film. :yes:

Best of luck!
 
Thanks guys!

I've been thinking I might make a short BTS type deal. Like what FilmRiot does, since I know you (Chimp) refer to them a lot. I love what they do and thought it might be fun to do the same for the steps. I'm not sure if I'll have the time to or not, but I have done YouTube vlog type deals before that seemed to be alright, so I think I might try that. Maybe start with one about screenwriting since that's what I'm doing now.

Which, by the way, is going quite well. I got a couple pages done. I'm anticipating it to be about 5 pages or so, which I'm thinking will turn out to be about 6 or 7 minutes long. I tend to like opening credit sequences, I think they can be one of the coolest parts of a film, so that might add to the page equals a minute rule.

It's been easier to adapt the story than I thought it would. I've had to change a bunch of it because I don't know how to show a lot of the things happening in the story and I don't want to jump around too much like I did in the short story version, but I think it's changing it for the better, so we'll see how it ends up. I'm new to the writing business, so it could be a disaster, but I can already picture how the shots will line up in my head so that's a good thing, right?
 
PugLifePro said:
I've been thinking I might make a short BTS type deal. Like what FilmRiot does, since I know you (Chimp) refer to them a lot. I love what they do and thought it might be fun to do the same for the steps. I'm not sure if I'll have the time to or not, but I have done YouTube vlog type deals before that seemed to be alright, so I think I might try that. Maybe start with one about screenwriting since that's what I'm doing now.
Click to expand...

I feel like their humor and easy-going attitude makes it easier for people to watch, as well as learning about filmmaking a more fun experience.

I'd like to see the process of making a low-budget short film. It seems like the projects Film Riot does are much larger than what most of us are doing. It would be nice to see something on a smaller, more low budget scale.

Which, by the way, is going quite well. I got a couple pages done. I'm anticipating it to be about 5 pages or so, which I'm thinking will turn out to be about 6 or 7 minutes long. I tend to like opening credit sequences, I think they can be one of the coolest parts of a film, so that might add to the page equals a minute rule.
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6 or 7 minutes? Good length. For some reason that seems like a good length for a short. That's also good when submitting to festivals. Many short films, great short films, if not the best short films judges have seen have gotten rejected because they cannot fit in a 20 minute short into the schedule. Many festivals prefer films either feature length or under 5-10 minutes.

It's been easier to adapt the story than I thought it would. I've had to change a bunch of it because I don't know how to show a lot of the things happening in the story and I don't want to jump around too much like I did in the short story version, but I think it's changing it for the better, so we'll see how it ends up. I'm new to the writing business, so it could be a disaster, but I can already picture how the shots will line up in my head so that's a good thing, right?
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Sounds like it's going good :)

Yes, visualizing the film in your head is good. Also, when you are done, I would be glad to take a look at the script. I'm not a screenwriter, but I can give you some basic advice and critique.

Good luck! :cool:
 
ChimpPhobiaFilms said:
I feel like their humor and easy-going attitude makes it easier for people to watch, as well as learning about filmmaking a more fun experience.
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Oh yeah. I love those guys. I think Ryan has changed a bit and he talks kind of weird now, but I still watch the show all the time. I'm hoping they have another drawing and invite one more guy to the Outsiders production since they had to postpone it.

ChimpPhobiaFilms said:
I'd like to see the process of making a low-budget short film. It seems like the projects Film Riot does are much larger than what most of us are doing. It would be nice to see something on a smaller, more low budget scale.
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I'll try my hardest to do this. It probably won't be a weekly thing, more like when I get the chance I will, but I think it would be fun to have something like this. It's truly a no-budget film, so it's going to be interesting.

ChimpPhobiaFilms said:
6 or 7 minutes? Good length. For some reason that seems like a good length for a short. That's also good when submitting to festivals. Many short films, great short films, if not the best short films judges have seen have gotten rejected because they cannot fit in a 20 minute short into the schedule. Many festivals prefer films either feature length or under 5-10 minutes.
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That was kind of my thought :)

ChimpPhobiaFilms said:
Yes, visualizing the film in your head is good. Also, when you are done, I would be glad to take a look at the script. I'm not a screenwriter, but I can give you some basic advice and critique.

Good luck! :cool:
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I'll probably take you up on that offer. I'm by no means a writer, especially a screenwriter. I've just done it for fun before. I've had nothing in terms of teaching or anything aside from a few books that I've looked through. So thanks for that and your overall support!
 
So I just spent the last week almost dying with some kind of virus. I literally didn't make it out of bed some days. So, I'm going to get back into the swing of things and hopefully have something up this next week.
 
'Grats on getting it started. There was no content at all, though. Don't waffle on about what you're still considering (or not!) including as content - all that research & legwork should have been done, so you could hit the ground running. As a potential subscriber, I would not have been impressed to start following.

Hope that was useful. Get your format down!

p.s. Loved the TMNT cutouts on your left. :cool:

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