Do I tend to overthink things in filmmaking?

[Brian Drysdale]

Don't fool yourself, it's about storytelling, even in the formula films.

[Greg Miller]

Originally Posted by Ryan Elder

Oh ok. Like for one short film for example I wanted a character to get handcuffed but didn't have the cuffs.

Who's in charge of your props department? You can get fake handcuffs for $10 or less.

If you have limited budget, crew, cast, and personal experience, why not tackle films that can be made with the resources you have? It's as if you're trying to shoot Star Wars with a Bell & Howell 8mm camera. Wouldn't it be better to shoot a modest script really well, rather than shoot an overly ambitious script badly?

[Josh Bass]

It would but we've had this discussion with him like 1000 times over the last two years and he is absolutely stuck on trying to make this one project.

[Greg Smith]

One of the first things I tell students in my workshops is that they shouldn't try to make their one big passion project of a lifetime as their first effort. Start with simpler and shorter pieces, maybe including one or two elements from their dream script to test out their ideas. Rinse and repeat until they're sure they know what they're doing before trying the film that's been trying to burst out from inside them for years.

In addition to this classic beginner's impatience, I think Ryan is so constrained by his limited resources that he's afraid he won't be able to afford the time, money and extra help he'll need to complete more than one big feature in his lifetime, so he wants to have every detail settled before ever rolling the camera. But then he spends so much time and energy planning that he never actually gets around to shooting anything. Many of his questions and lack of confidence can never be overcome by talking to others; he will have to get out there and shoot something to find out what works and what he is capable of.

On a lighter note, if I needed a pair of handcuffs for a prop, I can think of several ex-girlfriends I could call to lend me theirs. If we're on good terms, they would even include the keys.

- Greg

[Josh Bass]

Badump Tsh!

Yes we've had that discussion with him too. Like they say in Battlestar Galactica, "all of this has happened before, all of this will happen again"

(cue "All Along the Watchtower")

[Pete Cofrancesco]

To imagine someone fancying themselves a director/producer of a professional feature film with these type of questions and problems. Its so difficulty to not react to the absurdity, terrible decision making, and lack of understand. The best we could hope from this thread was a good laugh at a bad handcuff joke.

[Boyd Ostroff]

How many pages will it take to decide whether Ryan tends to overthink things? Clearly, five is not enough.

[Josh Bass]

Someone could do analytics based on the past two years’ worth of threads but offhand I’d guess between 27 and 70.

[Greg Miller]

We've reached a new nadir: now Ryan overthinks overthinking, and we respond. Do you ever wonder whether he's just spoofing us? In a way I hope he is; that would be less distressing than if he's serious.

[Josh Bass]

That also comes up frequently. I think we've all decided he's legit. This (development of his movie idea) has been going on on multiple forums for 4-6 years, and is incredibly consistent.

[Ryan Elder]

Yeah I am legit in my intentions and I do want to make a good movie.

It's just that it's hard to believe I overthink things, when others say I missed all these things in past projects, so I always think that I underthink things as a result.

[Greg Miller]

It sounds as if he needs a miracle.

[Josh Bass]

Originally Posted by Ryan Elder

Yeah I am legit in my intentions and I do want to make a good movie.

It's just that it's hard to believe I overthink things, when others say I missed all these things in past projects, so I always think that I underthink things as a result.

The problem as we all see it as that you don't know WHICH things to over/underthink--as Paul would say you give them all equal weight in terms of their importance. "can I fake compression" is not as important as, say, having a story/script worth faking compression FOR. And as everyone who's read or heard about the script (presumably this is the cop/revenge horror-thriller), has told you, that script/story is waaaaaay not ready for prime time. So why bother worrying about compression etc. until you get that ironed out?

[Brian Drysdale]

Unfortunately, I'm not compelled by the story from what I've heard so far, For an limited budget it should be going for the psychological, which costs less that truck crash .To date, all I've heard so far are concerns about recreating big movie cliches.. Some Canadian noir would be more interesting.

The Bridge Seasons 1-4 UK Trailer (English Subtitles) - YouTube

How about two strangers trapped together in s house: Small cast, limited locations.

1964 Woman in the Dunes Official Trailer 1 Toho Film - YouTube

[Pete Cofrancesco]

Writing a script that matches your budget! If only Ryan talked to you sooner (6 years ago). I’m afraid there’s no turning back from this awful crime thriller. Do you think I over think! good lord