Weekly Photo Challenge: Producer's Choice

Weekly Photo Challenge: Producer's Choice


This is a shot of me scouting a location in Chicago. The location is the Drake Hotel located off Michigan Ave and we were looking for a ballroom to shoot a film on paranormal entities haunting the hotel guests. This hotel was amazing on many different levels. Being one of the most famous and luxurious hotels in Chicago it had more than enough spaces to film a movie. The entire crew could be in one area and not disturb any of the everyday goings on of the hotels staff. We had the power necessary for the lights and the setting was simply over the top on many levels.


The picture shows me in the grand ballroom and gives a sense of the scale of the room. You can see that I only go up about a fifth of the height of the pillar and it continues all the way up. Currently we are still scouting locations for this script and hope to have some locations locked down by the end of the year. I cant wait to start filming this project after all the hard work and long hours so many people have put into it. 

Producers Most Important Role

Producers Most Important Role: My Production

The most important role the producer has on my upcoming productions in the next year or so is to secure financing and make sure the locations are secured with the proper permitting. Both these are extremely important because the success of the film can be made or lost over very simple errors.

Financing and investors are imperative because without money the film can not be made. This is the most important role a person can have. They will need to negotiate and have all the correct paperwork filled out. Contracts will need to be secured and signed and if an escrow account is necessary it will be their responsibility to have it set up and pay out when the time to cut checks comes.

Permitting is just as important because if we are filming and we don't have the correct permits then the film is dead in the water. We wont be able to use the footage and all the shots will be lost. The producers role is paramount in the success of the film.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Screenplay Cover

This is the screenplay cover I designed for my 333 script. I chose this combination of colors and fonts because I wanted to keep it as simple and streamlined as possible with drawing the interest of a perspective reader. The red and grey always seem to convey the message of something a bit darker and sinister. My screenplay is on the darker supernatural side so the combination is giving off the right vibe.

The all grey solid background seems to draw attention and if my screenplay is sitting in the middle of a stack with a hundred others then I want it to be memorable and get the attention of the producer about to read it. Most screenplay covers will be a solid white with black font in small lettering. I used a larger font for the 333 so the reader would remember the title better. After they read mine Im sure they will be reading many more so simply by making the title a bit larger it will hopefully stand out in their mind. I off centered the copyright and made it a simple black because it serves only one purpose, to let the reader know I have copyrighted the story and idea. Showes I am taking my work seriously. 

Ideal Office Space for Trinity Films

The ideal situation for office space for Trinity Films would be the Virtual Office Suites located on Sahara and Maryland pkwy. Thew have a full package for $150 includes the following.

STANDARD VIRTUAL OFFICE PACKAGE - $150.00 per month
Private phone number
Personal voicemail
Fax number
Personalized reception service during business hours from 9:30 am and 5:00 pm, Monday through Friday (excluding holidays)
Call handling may be customized to suit the needs of your business
Calls may be transferred to your voicemail box or forwarded to an outside number
Use of business address
Mail & package handling
Free first-class mail forwarding
Free Wi-Fi
Eight (8) complimentary hours per month use of Conference Room or Day Office during business hours
Access to kitchen with complimentary coffee & water service, business center, and lounge
Access to community printer, copier, fax & scanner
100 complimentary b/w copies per month
Unlimited on-site faxing & scanning
Free on-site notary service
License hang

(702) 727-3886
1810 E Sahara Ave
Las Vegas, NV 89104

This package creates a functioning office that give the legitimacy and space I will need to run my business. I can meet with clients, have an answering service, be centrally located, and have all the necessities in running a business.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Special Effects

I used this photo for my special effects because it shows many levels of layers and the overall process is more complex than most typical Photoshop pictures. I started with 2 layers, the first being a picture of a desert road inside Death Valley California and the second was a sky with defined cloud shadows.
I removed the original bland sky from the picture of the road and created a new layer underneath the road picture. After color correcting both photos I started applying filters. I used a combination of swirl and textures to get the correct sizing and perspective.

The angle and perspective is what my primary focus was on. I wanted to create the view as if the road went on forever with this menacing digital block sky up above in the distance. The blocks took quite awhile to place into the correct places and adjusting them into the perfect place was very tedious.

After all was said and done I was happy with the illusion the perspective of the road gives. The widest part starts at the bottom of the frame and the smallest runs right down the center. Assignments like this are fun to show off some special effects.

Week 6: How do I see my role starting in the industry?

Week 6

How do I see my role starting in the industry?

I see my role in the industry as learning and working with professionals that have been around awhile. I will be fresh out of school with new techniques and ideas and hope they will be of value to a production but an aware that they may not be taken into consideration at all. I accept this and understand that some people have ways that work for them and they are pretty much set in those ways.

            Starting out I will be willing to do whatever is need on the set and will be more than willing to take a lesser role as long as an opportunity for advancement is in my future. We al have to start somewhere and we all have to eat a bit of humble pie but I am confident that once they see my work ethic and talent they will give me the opportunity for advancement.

            Vegas is a town of transit. If I am going to work here I understand that I may be part of a production and have consistent work for a while but once the production is over I may not find another for some time. I am prepared to have to do independent work t support myself and be able to pay back some of those hearty school loans I have lingering over my head.

Weekly Photo Challenge: In the Director's Chair

   


 I Photoshopped myself into the directors chair by taking two images. The first is of me sitting in a chair on a beach and the second was a still of the chair on the stage.

     First I had to flip the image of the chair so the direction of the light would line up correct. The spotlight was coming from the opposite direction of the sun in the picture of myself. After I flipped the picture I had to resize the the picture of me. I scaled it down to about half the original size and it lined up perfect.

     After it lined up I started to remove the background of the beach. I used the eraser tool with a hard edge to get rid of most the background and when it came to the fine edging around my face and hair I used a feather so it would still have some strands of hair. I was able to blend the dark background pretty well and the darks went together to give the allusion that I was sitting in the chair.
   
     When everything was blended together all that was left was to crop the picture so my legs were not cut off. I resized and the picture and flattened the layers together. Then saved it as a .JPEG.

Week 5 Midterm: Midterm

Well, I have come a long way since day 1. Considering that the first class was a surprise and I quickly fell behind I think I am finally all caught up. All my photo challenges were completed. Each homework assignment except the finished optimal resume for Tarintino were finished and turned in. I finished my storyboard, professional photo, field kit, pricing, movie poster, and tweets. I meet with a banker, lawyer, relevant industry professional, and accountant. I have basically busted my butt for the past week playing catch up and am pretty proud of what I have gotten finished considering the circumstances. So far the information I have learned is valuable and I am looking forward to the rest of the class.

I am hoping now that I am caught up this class will be less stressful and my workflow will be much smoother. I have my four pages of the business plan but know it need to be revised and gone over. I am hoping next class we will have some time to go over them and you can give me some suggestions on what to change or add.

Week 4 Photo Challenge: Original Move Poster

This movie poster is for a movie that is currently in production. It is an original script I wrote, produced, and directed. The poster is of an abandoned insane asylum and a mentally insane woman. I used a couple different styles of text to draw in the viewers attention. When selling a movie you want the audience to be intrigued and want more, therefore they will go to the theater and watch it.
I made this very simple and easy for the viewer to understand. The woman is visually disturbing and her eyes stand out. The eyes are important in the plot line and I wanted them to be noticed immediately. The actual building is a little more opaque and hopefully gives the feeling of creepiness. This whole project is currently under production and will be released by the end of the year.
My overall goal for the project is to get it into film festivals across the country.

Week 3 Photo Challenge: Storyboard for a commercial

This is a storyboard for a script I wrote called Las Vegas Cold Case 333. The actual storyboard is for the trailer I am about to start filming next week. The overall premise behind the script is about 2 Las Vegas Metro police officers that were called to investigate a woman in distress at the abandoned insane asylum in north Las Vegas.
The officers are lured deep into the abandoned building by a womans voice calling out for help. One goes missing after a series of unexplained events.
In this storyboard I am showing how the trailer is going to be shot. Basically it is going to showed a panicked woman running and be driven by sound effects. I'm using shadowed silhouettes and quick cuts to build the excitement and suspense. Music is another very important factor in the trailer.
A trailer is an advertisement for a movie so I want the audience left wondering what is going to happen and have the desire to see the movie when it is released. Text and motion graphics are also very important to the overall feel and dramatic events that occur in selling my movie. Keep checking back to see the finished version in a couple of weeks.

Week 4 EOC Progress Toward My 4 Professional Contacts

I have had some progress toward gathering together my 4 professional contacts. I have a regular banker that I work with so she has agreed to talk to me about what is necessary for a filmmakers such as myself to secure financing from a bank. I already have her business card and hope to have the meeting scheduled by next week.
Second, I dont know any lawyers here in vegas so I will have to look one up in either the yellow pages or online. I am hoping to find one that knows his way around the film industry or can at least point me in the correct direction. Vegas has a plethora of seasoned lawyers in the entertainment industry Im sure. Having a good attorney to make sure the film is running on all the proper legal outlets is imperative if it makes money.
Third I will be meeting with my insurance agent who handles my rental, car, and equipment insurance. Again the meeting is to get myself pointed in the correct direction to find an insurance company that handles clients in film related field. Insurance is one of the most important parts of the pre-production process because of if something happens to personal or equipment the production could be sunk before it ever gets started.
The most important role of the pre-production, production, and post-production process is the account. Their the person that know where the money is coming from and going to. They keep track of all the records and purchases along with balancing the books. I still need to find someone that knows the ins and outs of the accounting for a film project.

Week 2 Photo challenge: Professional Work Photo

This is a photo of me in the Grand Tetons working on a Canon 7D SLR digital camera. The 7D allows a filmmaker to shoot high quality digital video on a advanced Single Lens Reflux camera body with a number of options for their lens. The depth of field and ability to shoot in low light conditions has made the 7D the camera of choice for beginning to advanced digital video production. I feel very privileged to be able to shoot with my 7D and the feel I can create with its internal settings makes the difficult shots look easy.

Grand Teton National Park is an extraordinary place to shoot scenic photographs and and video. I was lucky enough to find a day with a sunset that made the sky appear as if it was on fire. Combined with with the snow the reflections from the sun falling behind the mountains were extraordinary. Originally this shoot was going to take place in Yellowstone but the park was closed do to snow and was not scheduled to reopen until April. We made the best out of what we had and it turned out to be a day to never forget. Having Jackson Hole Ski resort close by was a nice perk too.

This picture was taken from a digital phone thus the grainy film quality. 

Week 3 EOC: Where are you now and where are you going?

Where I am now and where I am going as a filmmaker? Presently I am just starting on my career path. I have worked in the industry as a production assistant and have much experience as a cameraman. I am very comfortable editing and creating graphics for my short films. Every project I finish and person I work with gets me a little closer to my career goal. This is the time in my life where I am just burying my head in any interesting project that comes across my desk. As long as projects are steady and I am busy the path is clear.
Where am I going? Well, my goal is producing and filming documentary projects. I need to get my studio set up and able to fully create and produce projects but the ground work is currently being laid. I have many ideas but the reality is simple. My first major production is going to be filming the entire year leading up to December 23, 2012. This is a major event in many peoples life and others show no concern. I will be interviewing and and filming both opinions leading up to the big event and hopefully continue after with followups. With the completion of this project I am hoping to gain exposure for my company. I see a bright light at the end of the dark tunnel and know there is a ton of preparation, scheduling, and filming on the horizon but cant wait for the challenges ahead.

Clown Meets Cool Dude

This is a short animation I created on http://www.xtranormal.com as a demonstration of their software and their free animation program. The program allows the user to create a short script and utilize different features and options to create a short animated movie. The options include choosing a number of different pre-made characters, background music, camera angles, and character movements. The program does have some limitations. Xtranormal.com allows a user credits to create their first movie but if you want to make multiple movies then you either need to sign up with a different email or buy credits. It is also is a bit slow when it come to delivering lines and keeping the flow in rhythm. All in all it will take some practice to master this program and if you have an unlimited amount of email accounts you want to register with xtranormal.com then it will only cost you your time. The creative user will have fun working with this program and after a few attempts they should to be able to create a well paced and fun short animated movie.

Week 2 EOC; Things I will have to sacrifice to get ahead in my career

3 Things I will have to sacrifice to get ahead in my career

There will be so many important things I will have to sacrifice to get ahead in my career, especially for the first few years. The first and most obvious is my time. When you are a "rookie" in any new job you are going to have to prove yourself. The new guy is at the bottom of the ladder and gets all the assignments the senior people don't really want. I will have to spend the extra time and effort to make them notice my work ethic and show that I am a driven to succeed.
Being the rookie and having only limited experience I already am prepared to take on some jobs I may find less than desirable to work my way to bigger and better things. Even being an independent contractor I might have to do some work I would preferably not have to do. In the scheme of things doing the smaller harder jobs only makes me a better person and appreciate what I have accomplished later in life.
The third thing I realize that might have to be sacrificed is artistic freedom. When working for others and getting a paycheck for a specific job done a particular way I will most likely not be able to do it the way I think is best. Lesson learned from past experiences; just keep my mouth shut and try to do exactly what the person writing my check wants.
There will be endless sacrifices I have to make in my road to success but hopefully by making many of these sacrifices early in my career I will have to make very few as it progresses.