I bought an XL1s so I could be hollywood film maker

[BobKloss]

They did it with Blair Witch project.

Cost of original film $50k. Three kids out in the woods, renting hotel rooms, buying booze, a dv camera, somedescent sound equipment and etc.

Then they sold it at a film festival for $1,000k (1 million$)

But thats just the start, then the buyer took it to a firm in Tulsa, OK for promotion. They charged about $1.6 million to come up with tee shirts, posters and advertisement that included sending young people all over the country to shoping malls etc.. to spread the rumor about the blair witch. Oh yeh, they also put up a nice website where the 15 year olds could go and try to solve the mystery.

After that the movie grossed around $200,000k (200 million$)

I'm finding it hard to get anyone interested though. People are so busy these days. I hope I'll be able to get his thing done.

I'm not rich either, if I come up with $50k out of my own pocket I'll be doing good.

Will america stomach more "B" rated horror flicks? We'll see.

Any one else around here experiensing this also?

[Dylan Couper]

I'm tossing around ideas and trying to find like minded people on what to make to take a shot at being the next "Blair Witch". $50k isn't the problem. The problem is shooting something that won't make people go "Oh, that's just another Blair Witch project..."

[BobKloss]

Oh yah... Ideas! Heres one-

The year, 2102. The cam pans in on an old lady describing what went wrong in the year 2002. She explains that a guy sweating in a suana in a fitness gym came up with the idea to sell his sweat as Brittney Spears own human sweat to thousands of adoring fans on eBay. A couple of years later Hillary Clinton is elected and the first thing she does as President is sign a bill allowing doctors to clone humans. Shortly thereafter peolpe with the frozen sweat they bought on eBay are taking it in to be cloned because they want to raise their own Brittney. But to there disbelief the children are born and in a few years they start to realize that these kids look just like Brad Pitt. Shortly thereafter Brad is arrested and confesses to coming up with the idea and using his power to get through legal glitches. Then in about 2050 when locked up in jail he summons his seed through now widely practiced mental telepathy which was proven only to work on direct descendants. They come and take over the prison and escape Brad to a foreign country. Meanwhile on the other side of the world Bin Laden who now has the second largest army of telepathic direct descendants with only Brad having more and human cloning since being condemmed and outlawed. Through the use of wireless headmounted cameras Brad and Bin can see the postition of all their descenants and fight---

Well, I've never tried to write a script but if I can't get some help soon I may just have to:-)

Oh yah, the old lady? Yep, an age enhanced 120 year old Brittney.
Brittney Spears theme music, Brad Pitt and ?

IF IF IF IF, you could get Britt and Brad to agree to this project the money would be there, no problem.

Big IFS!

[Rob Lohman]

I'm going to be very harsh here.... I don't think that is a great
movie idea (at least not for me personally). When hearing this
I do not want to run out and see it. This could be me ofcourse.

Why are you all wanting to do this? For the money? Hollywood
fame? These are usually not the right driving forces to get where
you want to go. If you love making movies; that is much better
way. Why do you want to be a hollywood film maker (see title
of this thread)? I personally just want to make movies. If that
one day gets me to hollywood, so be it. If not, no problem. As
long as I can make the movies I want to, and ofcourse, it would
be nice if that allowed me to make some money.

Your sci-fi idea is also hard to make as a indepedent movie
(notice that I do not use the term film here) maker. You have
people sweating in a sauna (how are you going to film in this
moist and hot environment?) ... you want to clone humans.
I'm hearing Britney Spears (yikes -> you saw her movie she
already did?) and Brad Pitt... You want 2050 Jail (which needs
to be build)... Then we even have Bin Laden and his huge armies
and what not.

Personally I would begin a lot and a lot smaller. You say you've
never tried to write a script (perhaps you should start here with
small scripts like a couple of pages -> short movies). I also doubt
you've ever made a (short) movie (not trying to be mean here or
anything). If not, try to make a short one first. I recently shot
my first little short (shot around 60 minutes of footage which will
end up with a movie of around 5 - 10 minutes if all goes well)
and I learned so very much.... I also made a couple of huge
mistakes. But that does not matter. My next one will be way
better, because I learned. Also, I'm glad I got to do this on
a relative small (and thus almost not expensive) project first.

Think hard about what you are doing and what you are going
to do. My last little piece of advice is to just do it. I plan to shoot
at least once every two weeks (I have a fulltime day job that is
something completely different) to learn my camera, try out
different things etc. and to keep me going. Every once in a while
I'm trying to shoot an actual idea or short movie and then I
plan weekends or take one/two week vacations from work and
try to get as much people on board with me.

I tried to be as sincere as possible when writing this. I hope I
have not offended you with my honest opinion. I wish you all
the best. Good luck.

[Bill Ravens]

You're right on, Rob. Here, where I live, writers, producers, and actors (and all of them GOOOOOD) are a dime a dozen. The market is flooded with product and there are few buyers. Unfortunately, experiences like BWP are rare. The scenario is one where you try to find backing for a project that has no market. Good luck.

[Charles Papert]

This is so not the point of this thread, but in case anyone finds it useful...Rob asks how to shoot in a sauna. Easy enough, just wet down the actors with a spray bottle of water and use warm gels on the lights--the actors will have to take care of the rest of the illusion! If the preferred location is a steam room, same deal with the actors but add a fog machine (the Rosco unit available at any stage rental place will do fine) and smoke the room--have the unit just out of frame sending mists of fog every now and then. I've shot both and they sell just fine.

[Dylan Couper]

Bob, I love your idea! It made me laiugh out loud reading it. I for one, would go and see it TWICE! :)
However, if you had the money to get Brittney and Brad, you would be talking to producers right now, not us.

I would take Rob's advice very seriously. He makes a good point.
Make movies because you love movies. The good thing about people in the film industry being dime-a-dozen, is that many of them will help you out for free.

Rob also brings up another interesting point that I've debated before. Are you a film maker only if you actually shoot in film? What about if you shoot in film and transfer to DV?

[Keith Loh]

I think it's useful to look at the filmmaking communities in other parts of the world.

It really seems to me that MOVIEmaking in other parts of the world where they haven't had the same amount of resources as Hollywood has relied more on ingenuity and a certain non-regulated environment to get the job done. I see this a lot in movies from Hong Kong and Japan, both of which have had extremely vibrant phases in its industry. Not only is there incredible output, there is also lots of chance taking. Crew sizes are extremely small there as are perks and salaries.

For example, MUSA, which is an epic historical adventure (saw it, loved it), looks like it could have been an $80 million picture by Hollywood standards. However, its budget was actually something like $6 million; a Korean-Chinese co-production. A very glossy movie with locations and extras and costumes and props. Very much like Gladiator. My guess, probably very much not MADE like Gladiator. Not just different economics, but probably different philosophies. I somehow doubt that any of the cast or crew in MUSA got the Russell Crowe treatment.

Better examples are the wave of Japanese shock-horror films that are popular on DVD here. Filmmakers like Takeshi Kitano (Beat Takeshi), Kiyoshi Kurosawa, and Takashi Miike are insanely prolific. Miike makes something like 8 films a year. None of these films are glossy, but they have a craziness that is a mark of genius. Again, my guess is that they shoot quickly, eschewing complicated track or crane shots for handheld or tripod, and their cast is willing to play along with the improvisation and herky jerky atmosphere. One thing also: these are pulp films who have more akin to Troma, exploitation genres than they have to the thoughtful indie stuff that we think of coming from Sundance. To me, this is widening your audience. None of these films will win an Academy Awards, but they clean up in rentals.

This is probably the closest I will come to voicing a manifesto; just voicing a desire for bringing some of that craziness, that take no prisoners, no BS, no fat approach to MOVIEmaking.

[Emiel Labree]

Kiyoshi Kurosawa has a minimalistic approach that i love. Still incorporating some big special effects [as in KAIRO] but putting him in one sentence with Takashi Miike is doing him wrong -- not that Miike is bad, it's just a whole different league.

Build a story carefully and slowly, let the characters breathe and don't use too much editing. Also bring some real emotion to your script.

And i thought the [brad pitt/britney spears] idea was pure sarcasm. But you're for real, Bob?!

[Michael Wisniewski]

Classic line, I can see it playing out on the Simpsons ...

Homer: I bought an XL1s so I could be hollywood film maker!

Nelson: Ha haaaa!!!

Homer: Dohh!


No offense meant, that's just the first image that came into my mind

[Dylan Couper]

<<<-- Originally posted by mikeysbistro : Classic line, I can see it playing out on the Simpsons ...

Homer: I bought an XL1s so I could be hollywood film maker!

Nelson: Ha haaaa!!!

Homer: Dohh!


No offense meant, that's just the first image that came into my mind -->>>

BWAAAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAAAAA!!!!!!!

HAHAHAAAAHAHAHAHHAAAAAA!!!!!

Oh, I know this is technically a free post, but that had me laughing out loud!

One more line.

Homer: "Stupid, lousy XL1." throws XL1 in garbage, sits on couch, opens beer.

[Don Berube]

Take a look at "Anna Is Being Stalked" by Scott Pendergrast and Gabriel Rhodes of Stalker Films [ http://www.stalkerfilms.net/site.html ]. This DV short received a large amount of praise (Iheard that Robin Williams was enamored by it) at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival. It has a wonderful look. It was shot with the older XL1 and the 3X Wide Angle Lens. It is currently playing this month on The Sundance Channel during some of the "Intermission" segments.

- don

[BobKloss]

Don, This is new to me. Are you talking about on cable TV, the web or what?

[Don Berube]

I am referring to the cable channel called "The Sundance Channel" - check with your local cable company about availability. It's not available everywhere, but if it is, I highly recommend it! It's all I ever watch, that is, when I actually watch television hehe

- don

[Vinson Watson]

<<<-- Originally posted by Don Berube : I am referring to the cable channel called "The Sundance Channel" - check with your local cable company about availability. It's not available everywhere, but if it is, I highly recommend it! It's all I ever watch, that is, when I actually watch television hehe

- don -->>>

I have both Sundance and IFC (Independant Film Channel) and they're both wonderful. IFC has a show called Dinner for Five. It's hosted by Jon Faverau. He and five different actors sit down and talk about film their experiences. It's really a great show. Any indy filmmaker/moviemaker should have these channels. Sundance is showing a movie called "WayDownTown" (it's in rotation now) you should check that out, it's somewhat like fight club but without the fighting. It's funny and pretty telling about office life, but they use some very nice techniques. You can somewhat tell it's not as polished as a Hollywood Production but it's damn good.

-Vinson