Production Diary: The Kohlman Files

Gonzo_Entertainment

Gonzo_Entertainment

I'm sure I've referred to it multiple times, but I've been in pre-production off and on for a couple of months (as time allowed around day job, a commercial, and a music video shoot) on a horror web series.

The script (which is linked in the Premiere member area) has gone through 3 revisions, with probably one more before we actually shoot. It's 12 pages that I expect to run about 15 minutes. Very long for a web series I now.

My intention is to finance the pilot through a kickstarter campaign (my first). The bottom line budget for the pilot is $2K. I have used up most of my supply of freebies, plus the guilt (bad trait for a producer) is starting to get to me. I have a hard time anymore telling an actress, "OK, so I'm going to hang you naked in a very uncomfortable position from a wall off and on for 6 hours, but I can't even pay you $100".

In the event we overfund (which I REALLY hope we do), the additional funds would be used to either up the budget on the pilot or be set aside for funding additional episodes.

We're going to explore some options to license it as exclusive content based off the pilot and if that fails we'll release it on youtube and go back into fund raising mode for the episodes.

We shot a one minute teaser last weekend that I just got the first rough cut of. I'll be posting that soon.

Lead actor is cast
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1063262/

As is one of the main supporting roles. This guy is what counts as the tiny bit of star power I have.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1252668/

Version 1 Poster completed yesterday.

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I'll update with more over the next few days. Feel free to ask any questions or give any advice you may have.
 
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Fiancée' took the photo. That shot has been an image I've had in my head for this thing since I first conceived it. She executed it well. I sang in a band for years, so fortunate enough to have a couple of Halloween grade fog machines in the garage.

Skreamings (I think that's his IT name) who made The Dumpster is actually my editor. I met him at a film festival last year. Looking at his rough cut of the teaser now.
 
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Some production stills.

20' Dolly run on the sidewalk. It was a proof of concept, really want to do a 50' or 60' run some day.

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Yeah having access to a 100 year old auto factory is pretty sweet.

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I love recycled props.

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Swis_Bronson said:
This looks awesome! I find myself drawn into the old factory/refinery styled places, looks great!
Click to expand...

They briefly made a car called the Marathon in Nashville in the early 1900's. The factory has been turned into a mix of retail and art spaces. I have an in with the owner so I have some ability to use the areas that haven't been redeveloped yet. A LOT of music videos and that kind of thing get shot there. He usually charges a couple grand a day to use the space, so getting it free is a big bonus.
 
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A buddy of mine runs unfilmable.com which is a pretty big Lovecraft site and I'm a member on several discussion boards as well, so yes I'll be starting that process pretty soon. We just got the website up and running about a month ago, haven't had a chance to add this to it yet. I don't want to really start trying o get the buzz going until the kickstarter is up and running, probably about another week. We're color correcting the teaser and finishing the music right now.
 
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Cinematography wise it's the best stuff we have ever done without a doubt. Definitely Looks like we spent more than the $500 we actually did. Most likely because we spent a 12 hour day shooting a 1 minute teaser instead of our usual forced march of shooting 5 pages in a 15 hour day.

I'll post it (teaser) as soon as it's complete.
 
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Fantastic. What a relief.
Glad to hear that.

You may benefit from chumming the waters at those places weeks before you get the kickstarter up and running.
News of the color correcting and whatnot are all the things as many people as possible need to be hearing about.

What's the number in advertising? Something like 17 or 21 times people need to hear about something before they remember it?
Yeah.
That.

You going to parade your KS video here a few passes for a few once overs?



I get what you are saying, but also concerned about putting info in front of people when they can't act on it right then.
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EDIT: Understood.
I concede there is an art to it.
BOL.
 
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A few more stills. Waiting on the final mix of the music to complete the teaser.


A screen grab, that's one of those cheap on camera LED lights inside the mask.

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Not a natural light guy, but it was perfect time of day and window location.

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650 with barn doors making the nice light pool on the wall.

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DP Ron Coons, Myself, Sound Guy John McGhee (manning the dolly).

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I got my confirmation on this guy today. He's the Nyarlthotep (Lovecraft nerd fest) character. An old friend, actually pretty well know in B/C horror circles. Bonus is he's a real deal, worked on major motion pictures, stunt coordinator.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1252668/

I cast the lead a while back. It wasn't written as an AA role, so it's both a bit color blind and a chance to bring another element to the table as we CAN address race if we want (in a humorous way most likely). He's a good hard working actor and all around nice guy.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1063262/
 
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