Seek, find, ask. . .

LOCATION PERMISSION:
We approached a business (a franchise restaurant) with the request to film a scene in one of their locations. We started by talking to a local office representative, who listened to our presentation and took our information. Later, we heard from a regional rep, who reminded us how difficult it is to obtain permission. However, she asked me to send more information that will be forwarded to another corporate office for a final decision.
Even if we don’t obtain permission, we learned more about business.

What's in a name? Check your tagline.

Here’s a fun article and list of “Great Film Taglines”: http://www.filmsite.org/taglines.html . Tim Dirks, the author of this copyrighted website, wrote the following explanation:
“Introduction: Taglines (often called slogans) are catchy, enticing short phrases used by marketers and film studios to advertise and sell a movie, and to sum up the plot, tone or themes of a film. Many films have multiple taglines. Composing ad copy for posters and trailers is generally the first step in marketing a film and setting a strategic direction for the product. These 'sound-bite' epigrams are often placed on either film posters (above or below the film's title) or on the merchandise itself (DVD or video cassette box, etc.), to reinforce what the film is all about. Some films do not have a tagline at all, and instead choose to provide evocative images to convey the meaning, mood, symbolism, or setting of the film (i.e., Chinatown (1974)). Some taglines are quite obscure, unrecognizable and forgettable. Often, the best taglines are for very inferior films.”

Here’s a list we have drawn up for our film, Road to Opportunity: Do you have a favorite?

Rain time-- what to do

Culture effected by weather.
And so it is here in California. We forget rain for so many months of the year, that when a few drops fall, and then a month of rain falls, we wonder what to do.
Here’s a list of some things we did:

Rain— time to do CG (which means composite generator). There is software that allows the user to create 3-D objects and environments. We will need this is many instances (link to more details).
Rain— time to do music. We had been putting this off as a post-production matter, but being we couldn’t film, we had a few good sessions creating original music that we plan to develop for the film (link to more details).
Rain— time to watch some movies (as we aren’t able to edit our own now). Our film teacher Mr. “C” (Carillo) told us about the documentary “Lost in La Mancha” that describes the making of a film where everything that can go wrong does.

RAIN— time to rain some more. Flood watches and then evacuations. It didn’t include us, but it but a serious tone on things.

Rain— time to review our script. Rain storms good for brain storms.

Rain— time to review our tagline ideas.

Info on a card

Meanwhile, in filmmaking, our film industry-experienced teacher, Mr. C, reminds us of the business aspects. It’s integrated into all the work, including permission forms.
We have been keeping a lot in one binder, so that there are less places to look for things—less loose sheets to lose. We didn’t yet have a simple way to give out our contact information to people we meet, so after many times writing our number on a scrap of paper, we designed a business card.

Business aspects

Meanwhile, in filmmaking, our film industry-experienced teacher, Mr. C, reminds us of the business aspects. It’s integrated into all the work, including permission forms.
We have been keeping a lot in one binder, so that there are less places to look for things—less loose sheets to lose. We didn’t yet have a simple way to give out our contact information to people we meet, so after many times writing our number on a scrap of paper, we designed a business card.

SOUFI FILMS

New Year, new blogsite.

We have an easy-to-remember blogsite set up. It simply links to this site. It's easier for some to find us this way. .

SOUFIFILMS.blogspot.com.

I have jotted down notes--lots of news--and I'll be posting more pictures, too.
Soon!

Winter break---time to work? If we're lucky

Winter Break—and time (we hoped) to catch up with our film production schedule.


It was also a time to catch a cold, go on vacation, and watch the rain fall. Everyone did one or more of these. We all watched the rainfall and there was even flooding in some areas.

We used to live in a place known for rain—the Pacific Northwest (Washington State) though we lived in the dry interior. We lived a long time in Beautiful British Columbia which was both beautiful and rainy. It was so rainy that a mere drizzle called for a walk in the park or a chat on the street corner with a friend.

Rain on the RTO

Rain on the Road to Opportunity.
Besides filming chase scenes, we have been chasing the shortening hours of daylight and the changing season that brings more clouds, rain and cold. We have been lucky. Until last weekend. We had a big crew signed on for some outdoor filming, but the weather forecast and then the rain, forced us to quickly rewrite our shooting schedule--and move it all INDOORS!
Finally, we had to postpone all together. Meanwhile, we gained some more crew--including actors--for upcoming scenes.
No one said the Road to Opportunity would be easy!

Same place, same time?

It only appears that way.
Three actors:
the main character Julio (played by Diego),











SWAT officer 1 (played by Basil)

and SWAT officer 2 (played by Tom).


The chase: involving all of the above.

The film shoots: on three different days.
Julio on November 27,
Basil December 4th and 10th,
and Tom on December 10th.

Post production: will have all three at the same place at the same time, thanks to editing.


Film editing: something of a Rubik's Cube experience, itself.

Dolly with an engine

We have tried dolly shots before, using a simple dolly (used for moving furniture) but it was too bumpy. For these running shots in the chase scene, we used a car. We had to drive over 20mph to catch up with the SWAT guy. That would have been too fast for a dolly.

We set up a tripod in the back seat, rolled down a window and shot as we tried to match the speed of the runner.

In this case, the SWAT actor, Basil, probably ran a few miles because it required many takes, trying to match his speed. We'd either get ahead or fall behind. Finally, we got a print, and Basil could hop into the car for a break and some behind the scenes shots.

Sometimes things work out (even with the Rubik's Cube factor)!

Our second SWAT officer, Tom, was on standby for his turn in the SWAT gear. We had to take turns, because our budget only allowed us to buy one uniform. In case you're wondering what we collected to piece together this uniform, we will post something on that later.

Filmmaking burns calories

. . . if you have to run up and down a hill like our SWAT actors (and crew) did


--about 20 times.

And to avoid worried attention from bypassers, we had a sign that clearly indicated we were making a film.

We were right behind a movie theatre, so people arriving for a film were also seeing one being made.

No problems. We have gotten to know the security guard at the top of the hill, and he is cheering us on!

.

Chase scenes - action and reaction from the public

Running in a SWAT uniform brought in a lot of phone calls to the police station!

More on this, along with photos, a little later tonight!


Later:
Despite the "Filmmaking in Progress" sign, and efforts to notify the police,
and talking to neighbors, etc., people were calling into the police station--45 calls! So several police officers were dispatched to check it out.
More later.

Turns out,
after the initial serious approach, they noticed our "filmmaking in progress" sign, our camera on a tripod, and our friendly hello's. The officer chatting with us took an interest in our project, asked questions about the uniform and said there was nothing illegal about what we were doing. It was simply causing so many people to call in to ask what's going on, so they asked that we choose more discrete (or indoor) locations.

It was another Rubik's Cube moment.

Media Attention

Our Film Production process was recently covered by "The Reporter" newspaper published an article in yesterday's paper regarding our current production "Road to Opportunity". There was a photo and caption on on the front page with a story on the cover of The Word section.

Film Industry

Just in case you're asking if one can actually work in the film industry, the answer is yes. Our teacher, Mr. Carillo, works in the industry, and explained that it employs so many people in everything from carpentry to cinematography. Click here here for more information about the film industry. It's wide open.

--Alex

Sounds familiar. . . in India

Just got a note (posted in the comments link, Dec. 6) from a filmmaker in India who said he (or she?) could relate to our descriptions of what we are running into while filmmaking.

Most of this blog's readers will be local or from the west coast where there's a lot of filmmaking. The note from India, though, reminded me that anyone might read this. Clicking on the small site meter at the bottom of the page shows me where people are viewing from.

Film Festivals

People ask where and when they will be able to see our film Road to Opportunity.
Every year our school enters its student films into the Buckingham Independent Film Festival (click the link here or on the links column).
Most of the films screened are shorts, but if some longer films are allowed, maybe we'll have a chance to show ours. The competition is open to shorts only, so we probably won't be able to enter as a competitor, but it would be great if there's a chance to screen it here at Brenden Theatres. If not, there are many other film festivals. It takes time to find the right festival that matches one's work. There are also online sites where independent filmmakers can upload their work for online downloading/viewing. We'll let you know when it is showing somewhere.
Meanwhile, we just have to concentrate on getting our Road to Opportunity paved!

Scooter kicks

The scooter scene will have to wait until we find a scooter that one can ride
without getting kicked off.


I guess if something mechanical had to go wrong, it's better it was the scooter and not the camera!




Another Rubik's Cube moment.

Rolling. . .

Cameras rolling.



Oranges rolling.






We had a large crew on Sunday and met at a friend's home on a hill.

Thanks, Fisher family!
It was cold and windy, so our actors wore coats between scenes.
We featured orange trees and oranges, as written in the script.
Try to get an orange to roll down a hill just as you wish, and you'll be rolling all day!
We got it, though, after lots of takes and laughter and improvised engineering: How do you rehang an orange on a tree after it has already been picked?

How do you make (on cue) an orange fall, or appear to fall, off a tree?
How do you get it to roll down a hill right past the camera and stop--rolling!

Archives & posting notes

From the archives link (see Archives in right column margin) you can check the postings (back to November 4th) for more pictures and words about planning and how things keep changing.

You can also click on comments if you'd like to post a comment or question to us. Some will be posted on the website. The film crew (or other filmmakers) might like to post their own notes about filmmaking here.

PS: the photo above is of our cat, Moka. We wrote a scene for her to appear in, but she didn't show up at the film shoot, so a friend's cat, Tux, got the part. Well, even I am not in the film. --Alex

SWAT

How do you run around town, dressed like a SWAT officer, and not attract attention? That was our question. More about this later. . .