Slow as Ever

Of course production continues, slow as ever. I’ve employed a very talented, professional to do my storyboards (in exchange for guitar lessons!). That happened just recently, so hopefully with the next month or so, I’ll be able to start posting some panels. The big news, really, with a the storyboard artist (Scott) is that I can work out the story elements with him. He has many years in the TV industry as a classical animator and until now as a 3D animator. The things that will come out of this union are unforeseeable.

I am still pushing for the Tucker proton pack. That’s more of a motivation on his part, but it will come, if not I have a fall back guy (which in all honesty isn’t a fall back, I would rather have friends help me out). As for myself, at the moment I’ve been hammering out pathetic excuses for ghost designs and working out ways of creating this particular effect for the films. I’ve decided that I really want to keep this very true to the original and not change things where I don’t have to (original cast is obviously a given) so I’m going to create and shoot a puppet on a green screen and Comp it into the flick. This has some obvious challenges, however it was done for many many years, and there are volumes of do’s and do not’s out there. Especially with the technology we have in our living rooms this technique will look best. I’ve decided to take what poor drawings I have and some advice (and possibly nice sketches) from Scott and dive into building the puppet  so that we can get ready to shoot it and do some tests.

The puppet will built with a wire armature so that one or two people can operate in front of a green screen while the camera is rolling. This obviously limits many aspects of the film making process. One of the major challenges is that many (if not all) of the shots with this effect will have to have completely still camera’s. That is, we will have to find all the angles that work good for the shot and lock the camera off. No dolly’s, no pans, no cranes. This is a major limit. However, there are two Ghostbuster films that work very well with locked off camera’s. As a plus, this can really have a lot of character, I remember reading something from Guillermo del Toro about his Hellboy II experience. The gist of it was that he kept having to send the CG shots of the monsters back because they lacked character and performance. CG just has too many perfect moments. It is so easy to make a perfect performance, do exactly what the director wants you to do. What is difficult is adding in those subtleties that give you character, and naturalistic qualities. Things like twitches, a line slur, a stumble or misstep, you don’t get this in CG unless the directors ask for them and in those cases they look rather unnatural. Puppets bring back that human quality, if a wire gets stuck and creates an odd sneer for a couple of lines, or the puppeteers arms get tired and the character favours one side. This all comes back with puppets.

I’m actually quite excited to get a bunch of little tools out with some wood, wire, tubing and latex and get to work on this. I’ll post some proper pics of the design soon, hopefully

The Pre-Pre-Pro List

I am a working man. I work very hard at what I do, and like most everyone that works hard at what they do and actually like their job, I get paid just enough. Money is a big part of movie making. Hearing about a comedy with 200 million bucks to spare makes me sigh. If i had a hundredth of the budget, I could get shoot my most expensive script. As it turns out, I’d be lucky to get a fraction of that fraction for a budget.

With money woes hot on my heels, I’ve devised a plan that will ensure that I either create my vision with as little wasted money as possible. If at any point I do not feel like I can create my script to my satisfaction, I can pull out at any of the steps and not be at loss.

I’ll show the list and describe each part after:

1. Make packs and traps
2. Test shooting with standard camera and broomsticks
3. Test out audio recording
4. Test out editing
5. test out proton and foley FX
6. Decide on script
7. Design ghost
8. Decide how to shoot ghost
9. Test out ghost FX
10. Complete storyboards
11. 2D animatic
12. Complete props and costumes
13. Test sets and lighting with standard camera, Live action animatic (cam/light/blocking/set)
14. Write out shooting schedule
15. Get actors
16. Get cranes, dolly’s and other shooting equipment
17. Create call sheet
18. Rent camera

The first and foremost thing I want to have done is the proton packs and a trap. This is a very expensive endeavour on it’s own. However, even if I don’t make the movie(s), at least I’ll have a bitching Halloween costume, and who else do you know that has a proton pack hanging above their fireplace?

Secondly, I want to test out shooting with friends and broomsticks, just to make sure that I can handle the camera, and ultimately test out a plethora of little things, that will prove to me that when I rent an expensive camera I can handle all aspects of the movie making process.

I find sound is some of the weakest parts of home made movies. They tend to use the microphone on the camera to capture the sound for editing and even the background and footstep foley. I plan to test out an external recording device, using visual mark cues to sync up in post and also record background sound FX foley completely separately.

Testing out the editing is pretty straight forward, I just want to make sure I can make a sequence flow correctly.

While editing I will figure out the foley and proton FX. I want all of the sound in the flick to be authentic.

Decide on script. This has been done, so I can skip it.

Designing the ghost is extremely important because we need to decide if it is going to be a practical puppet or if it’s going to be CG.

After the design of the ghost, we will need to test out and decide how to film the ghost.

Directly after that we will test out shooting with the ghost, as in create the ghost and composite it into the previously shot footage.

That last step is the last of the testing shot. Now I must complete the storyboards for the full script.

2D animatic is just so I can be sure of all the assets I need. Including temp sound and music.

Complete all props and costumes, this must be done before anything else, once this is complete, all assets should be acquired and, technically, the script can be shot in a moments notice.

After we find our location, we can test out lighting it with some temp actors and create a quick live action animatic.

The shooting schedule is very important. In cahoots with the animatic, the shooting schedule lists out all the shots I need to have in the editing room. Obviously this doesn’t count the quick pick-ups or improvised shots. There is room to grow.

Getting actors will be a bit tough. I’m still undecided at who’d I want to put in the flick. I really want someone passionate about the franchise, and someone that really wants to find a new and interesting character to imbue on the screen. As of now, I’m leaning to going to the local film school’s and putting up a notice to anyone that is interested in doing a shoot. I’m sure they wont mind the pro-bono stuff, right?

The equipment for the flick will be a little complicated. I’m going to try make as much of it as I can stationary, or steady/handy cam. But it would be very nice to have a dolly and maybe a crane. We’ll see as the pre-pro goes on. Perhaps Tucker can make me most of it, he is quite talented.

Call sheets will be one of the last things to do before we actually film. I will need to make sure I have everything in the above ready, then we will set the dates and create the call sheets for all cast a crew, then hand them out.

Renting a camera will probably be one of the easiest things to do on the production. I’m just trying to decide which one at the moment. I plan on going to Matrix Video in Vancouver to rent, I’m sure whatever I choose they will have.

Now, we shoot.

The Script Has Been Choosen

So Devon and I were sitting around last weekend and we nailed down which script we will be shooting when the time comes to start this. The script is tentatively named “Flander’s Field”. When I’m starting out a script, I try to name it after the setting so that it is easy for me to remember. I think this name will stick however. I’ve been trying to work on background stories for these “case files” and in coming up with a particular number convention I have decided also to incorporating a short description title for easy reference.

So as of now, a case file would look something like: “GBYVR – 000104 – Flander’s Field”. That’s of course not final, but that’s something of what the format is looking like at the moment.

The three characters I have been writing about are Kemp, Stiltz and Sam. They each have their own very specific personalities and mesh well, or not, together. Flander’s Field follows the first days of Sam in one of the Ghostbusters franchises.

Even though Sam is a very large and strong man, he has to overcome certain fears and challenges every Ghostbuster does when they are on the job.

Sam acts alone in this piece, next to the ghost of course, so this script is ideal for a first time flick. The ghost design this time around is something of a Chinese new years dragon. Devon is hard at work coming up with some design suggestions. When I see something I like, we’ll begin final designs and construction of the beast.

Knowing what script we are using is a great weight off my shoulders. Before this, I have been mentally planning out how to do every one of my scripts, so that when the time came to decide I would have a vague idea of what I needed for each flick. With the other scripts out of the way I can now concentrate on what I need.

Before doing this though we will need to do a very in-expensive live action test. This is for my own personal piece of mind. I refuse to do anything that will be released to the public if it does not meet a certain bar of excellence. And please believe me when I say that my bar is extremely high. I have, in fact, made a list of things that need to be done before I put any real money and time into this. Next post will be this list and details on each of the articles therein.

Crew

Even though I consider myself a fairly creative (note: I didn’t say artistic) guy, and even my friends would say so, I like help. Some may say that I don’t need help, heck, I’d even love to say I don’t want help, but the fact of the matter remains: Help is good. Creative criticism coming from the right people, will make the quality insurmountable.

I would love to say that I can do everything that is needed for my production, however, I would rather not. I would rather break apart the work and give it to someone more qualified or even to someone who has more time and a little bit of ambition. Thus I need crew to take up the “tedious” jobs that don’t necessarily need my direct and immediate attention.

At the moment, I have a prop maker and set builder. Tucker is the guy that builds stuff for me. Be it props (proton packs!) or sets or even a camera crane and a dolly, Tucker is an artist with any kind of constructing tool (the Vincent van Gogh of Miter Saws) and is willing do something on his off time that is separable from his day job.

I have appointed Chris my production manager. Basically, Chris is my assistant to the director, or even assistant director. Chris and I work closely with every aspect of the film and he helps me to keep track and make sure everything will work for what we need it for. If I need a set, he’ll work closley with Tucker to make sure that it is done to whatever specific specifications we have previosly laid out, track the progress and make any on the fly decisions that I would otherwise make.

Amber has volunteered to be the caterer and also costume designer, which is really nice. The props that the Ghostbusters use are one thing, but the actual costumes are a whole other character in themselves. Getting the right fitting, colour and patches is extremely important to the authenticity of the franchise. Food is a nice thing to have when working hard. But good food is just plain awesome and that is what Amber will be able to bring.

Devon has agreed to be my creature designer, which is technically the first job I filled on the production. Devon and I worked together a few times coming up with ideas and designs for different types of ghosts. Originally we had a certain technique on how our ghosts FX would be done, but now I’m experimenting with more practical puppets and “green screen” techniques that have limited some of our design choices and extended others. So the hope is that Devon will be able to design and build a working practical puppet character to be shot on a “green screen” and composited into some shots.

As of now, that is all I have for definite crew. Actors and other technical jobs will be filled eventually, maybe even by the existing crew. But we’ll see how everything goes in the future.

My Idea

I worry about divulging my actual idea for my first film. I guess I should actually say my “fan-film”.

<gasp!>

I know, slightly pathetic? Perhaps, but with all the fan-films currently out there I truly want to do this franchise justice. Now I really can’t blame the creators of some of these films for their work, after all they have inspired me to follow my childhood dreams long forgotten.  What I want to do is bring in an educated eye and a desire for professionalism in the preproduction techniques, the acting, the sound, the post production and finally on the end product itself.

The franchise I talk of is of course “Ghostbusters”. If you haven’t already seen Freddy vs. Ghostbusters or Return of the Ghostbusters, I do suggest you check them out. You’ll see what I mean. The series doesn’t quite take itself seriously and the professionalism doesn’t quite meet par.

Currently, I am in early preproduction on my first of these films. I have several different scripts written at least to their first draft. Each of these have a connection and I would love to make all of them. I’ve always loved the old radio serials long forgotten and I think, with todays technology and attention span, it is time for the serial to make a comeback.

You may ask yourself “don’t they have serials now?” and “aren’t they just called episodes of a SERIES?”. While that is correct, my aim is to tell a story, much like a movie does nowadays, yet break it up in instalments. Think of the film “Pulp Fiction”. In that film there were chapters, and they were told in a fluctuating order. Those are serials, albeit out of order. That is how I view this idea. I have many scripts and outlines, 3 of those whom exist as one congruent story, as if I wrote an entire action sequence 30 min long, and only released them in 3×10 minute instalments.

I or my benifactors only need invest little amounts of money, and potentially time, to do anyone of my serial scripts. Whith only a tiny section of the full story to produce, we will have an easier time dealing with all the little details that may otherwise be overlooked.  Quality over quantity. This is very good for me, for I work 5 days a week and have very little time to myself, let alone much time to dedicate to any large production, and the time that I do spend on this project is very concentrated. I think that’s why it will work so well, I never work on it too long to get bored with it. I can always put all my effort in at every facet.

In the near future I will start posting some story boards for my FX test, possibly script excerpts and most, if not all, other progressions in my endevour. Including the making of the Tucker Proton Pack!

The Starting

The title of this post is actually incorrect for I have long wanted to be a film maker since I was young. At the time I truly failed to realize it. Early on in my life (Grade 9ish) I wanted to become a 3D animator. From that day on I have striven to reach that goal. The classes I took in high school all the way to going to Vancouver Film School for 3D animation showed me a world that was ripe for the picking.

Not too long after I finished film school I got a job in the animation industry at Nerd Corps Ent. and started literally answering phones during the day and staying late working pro-bono for the company. After a few months went by I started working full time as an animation PA and after 3 years of working hard I am now currently a supervising animator. I love what I do at the company, my days are full of challenges and forthcoming knowledge, however I feel a calling; This calling is something I can’t ignore.

I did a google search recently for bloggers that journal their own actions as amateur film makers, but it came back fairly dry, which really surprised me. Although I’ll admit that I really didn’t dig too deep. My ultimate plan is to work on my weekends and on the bus (it’s a long ride home) to conceptualize and produce a film under my direction. I already have a lot on the go and I’ll chronicle my previous work as I go. This blog is specifically for myself to watch what I am currently and what I have done, to help me avoid previous mistakes and repeat the good ones. Perhaps, eventually, a dialogue will open up between readers and a community full of discussion and insight will emerge to help those that have the same ambitions as I.