A Harsh Reality Check

Filmmaking is one of those things that we often underestimate. We underestimate how much knowledge you need, how many hours are needed, how much planning there needs to be done, etc. etc.

The reality is, after two years of filmmaking, I still have no idea what I'm doing. I know how to do a lot of technical and artistic things when it comes to making films, but it feels like the more I make or the more I learn, the less I actually know.

And work... so much work truly goes into this with such unsatisfactory results. After doing a little bit of math, I put in around 120 hours of work into making this film. 120 hours for 2 minutes of film.

That's 5 whole days of nonstop work, and it really doesn't feel like it. I think the problem lies in how we tend to underestimate how long and how hard something should be.

Something as simple as re-recording some sounds took me over 20 hours to do. Why? Because every time I recorded a sound, I needed to take an SD out of the sound recorder, plug it into my computer, import it into a document, import it into Premiere Pro, select the clip I needed, adjust levels, add effects, and then redo it because I messed up. I did this over 100 times, and, quite honestly, the audio was the weakest aspect of this film.

It's so easy to just point and shoot, but really putting in the effort gets you to produce a better quality product... or so you would think. Really the amount of work you put into a project is exponentially more than the quality of the product produced.

I just spent fifteen minutes making a really pointless visual, which further proves my point about engaging in fruitless, unnecessary labor. There were a lot of headaches and a lot of time spent making this project when it really only made such a small difference, and the more time I spent on it the less of a difference it really made. 

BOTTOM LINE: Filmmaking is hard... but I work harder.

Soundscaping

Foley is defined as: relating to or concerned with the addition of recorded sound effects after the shooting of a film.

In our film, that really means... ignoring to record any quality audio on set and worrying about it all in post production.

If you want to see me struggle for about a minute to get the sound of a hammer and a shower curtain check out these videos...

I wish I could scream at myself to take off that watch. It doesn't match the outfit, and worse, the ticking is going to ruin all the audio...

I'm talking to myself to make sure that when I'm editing I know exactly what was being recorded or why certain pieces and clips didn't work. This speeds up the editing process about a thousand times because I know exactly where to jump to when selecting clips. 

Post-Production is a nightmare...

The Resolution Problem

I made a stupid choice of shooting this intro in 4K, which is an absolutely enormous file size. When I edit, I am basically just guessing because the files and are so big I cannot playback what I am editing. I imagine this is what editing with real film looks like because I truly have no idea what the end result will look like.

I have exported it a couple of times to see what it may look like and I had some huge issues with adobe because the sequence I was editing in was 30 FPS for some reason I still haven’t figured out. This essentially ruined a lot of the edit, so I had to create a new sequence with the right dimensions and 24 FPS.

So far, this is taking me way too long to edit and I very much regret shooting in 4K.

Reshoots

Two of the shots that we shot during the weekend were super rough. One was a close-up of the teeth which came out very shaky and the white balance was off that it made the shot a little too green and yellow. The next shot with the boxes also came out completely out of focus, so I had to go in and reshoot all of this stuff by myself.

I am not going to lie, I should have been more adamant about using a tripod on set instead of trying to do these shots handheld. It would have saved me an enormous headache of taking out all my equipment and making a huge mess for literally four seconds of footage.

Color Grading

I can’t color grade. I just don’t know how to do it. I also have a really bad eye for these kinds of things, but it is essential to the project because it makes a huge difference in the picture.

I’m basically just fumbling around with the colors and just upping the contrast to make it seem like I know what I am doing, but I have no clue at all.

I’ve watched some YouTube tutorials about color grading, but I think the footage looks so ugly because it looks like a YouTube video, not like an actual movie.

Shooting and Issues we encountered on set

Shooting was pretty smooth. We had allocated a lot of time to make sure that everything came out smooth and not rushed. We had lots of time to make mistakes and to quite literally just take our time.

The actor was really chill and worked well with us. We managed to get him in and out of the set in like one hour and fifteen minutes, so I consider that a success. Usually I have a hard time getting what I need from actors and they have to stay for long periods of time, but we were very timely for this project.

Despite the shoot being quite successful, we did encounter a few issues.

1) A loud family. My dogs kept barking and my parents and siblings love to talk like they are in a concert, so virtually all the audio we recorded needs to be foley in the edit.

2) Fake blood is hard to make. It took us an enormous amount of time to make the fake blood. It was very hard to try and get the right consistency and color.

3) Low-Quality lights. Some of the shots were useless because of horizontal lines that formed on the screen. This happens because I have very low quality LED lights that cause flickering if we shoot at a shutter speed faster than 1/50. A couple of shots had to be tossed.

4) Makeup does not stick. For the wound on the victim, Andrea needed to apply special effects makeup, but it kept sticking to her hands and not the guy’s stomach. It also dissolved when we began to shoot.

5) Focus. It is hard to pull focus on a tiny little display and a tiny little focus ring. This caused a lot of issues in the close up shots because the actor would move slightly forward or backward and completely ruin the focus, but I couldn’t really catch it on the camera’s display monitor.

Production Design and Art Direction

We are going to need lots of props to make this setting and story come alive, besides hair and costume.

To stay true to the era of burnt lungs, we bought fake cigarettes that are used in real Hollywood movies. These are the same cigarettes used by a young Natalie Portman in Leon: the professional.

We also neeeded to get fake teeth because after he kills the guy, he rips up his body and stores the stuff he can keep. We got some weird resin teeth off Amazon that were absolutely great.

Last but not least, we needed boxes to pull of the very last shot of Trevor with his victims. This was going to be hard because boxes aren’t exactly cheap and we needed lots of them. Our solution came out of pure luck. We went to Office Depot to buy boxes, but we saw a ton of boxes just lying around that they were going to throw away. We asked if we could just take them and they said yes. That saved us like 15 dollars, so we were really happy about that.

We also got creative with the names and made the first letter of each name spell out a word, but it didn't actually matter because my body blocks most of them in the final cut.

For the bathroom, we designed it in a way that made it look very 70s. The walls are painted with very muted beige colors, and we picked out a shower curtain that has that same feel with the stripes and circles.

We also decided to use a hammer instead of using the axe like I had originally written in the script because we didn't know where to get one and we did not want to come across as weirdos trying to buy an axe. A hammer had the right balance between very painful, and kind of normal to carry around.

Equipment

I have accumulated a lot of pretty low quality equipment over the years that will do the job just fine for this short film.

As my camera I will be using the LUMIX g7.

For lighting, because we are shooting in a bathroom with lots of mirrors and white, I really only need one powerful light, so I’m using a Husky work light.

For audio, I will use the Rode videomicro.

There are a lot of limitations with this equipment, but, like I said it does the job very well and the project will be really good quality.

Trevor's Costume

Since the movie takes place in the seventies, we wanted to make sure the costumes and environment look and feel like they are from that era. We turned to pictures from magazines from the time period to help us.

We really liked the idea of a turtleneck and a large jacket because it encapsulated the era and it looked really cool.

We went to Goodwill to find some cheap clothes, and after trying on a bunch of outfits, we narrowed it down to this combination.

It cost us about 20 dollars total, but I know I will make use of the jacket in the future because it is still pretty stylish even for today.

By the way, I do realize how dumb I look in these photos...

We felt as though he also needed aviator glasses to really complete the look, so we are going to get some in the near future.

The hairstyle was also something we kept in mind. I had been growing out my hair for a while because of a bad haircut, but I wanted to get it cut again. however, after I signed myself up for this role, I am going to have to leave it long.

We looked through a bunch of hairstyles, but we didn't know if they were going to work until we tested them with my hair.

We tried a variety of 70s hairstyles, but ultimately stuck with the Ted Bundy comb-over. 

THESE AUDITIONS WERE TRASH

After our casting call expired, we looked to see all of our auditions, and nobody really stood out for the part of our lead.

Some were very timid and others just completely missed the emotional beats in the audition. 

After some discussion, we figured it would be better if I just played the lead role for the introduction and called up one of the actors from the site to play the role of the victim.

This is going to add another level of difficulty to the project because I was supposed to be behind the camera, but now that I am acting in it, I can't do it.

Since my partner does not know how to use the camera with the same fluidity as I do, it may slow down production and/or we might have to take a day for her to practice a bit with the camera.

Aside from that, I am not an actor. I still think I can do a better job than all the people who auditioned, but that doesn't actually mean I have any natural talent.

I'm going to have to be able to cry on command and also convey the rollercoaster of emotions that Trevor goes through in the opening... I hope this works out...

The Field-of-View Dilemma

The location for our opening is a bathroom, and based on the descriptions and sequence of events in the film, we figured that the bathroom I have in y home would work the best for the scene. However, there is one issue... it is very, very small.

To get the opening shot we need, which is a push back on the main character on top of the toilet. Given the nature of the shot, we would only have about 3 feet of space from the subject to the camera. This would not be so much of a problem if I had the proper camera to pull of the shot, but I have a Lumix G7, which is a great camera, but it has a very small micro 4/3 sensor size.

The 2x crop factor means that our angle-of-view or field-of-view is chopped in half, which will make it very hard to get the shot wide enough to get the shot we need.

If I were to use the lowest focal length on my lens, 14mm, on a full-frame sensor, I would get a horizontal angle-of-view of about 104 degrees. A 14mm lens gives me about half that angle, and after doing some math, the sensor size problem because quite apparent.

This basically means that if we use the lowest focal length I have we would only get about 3.84 ft of horizontal view. 

After some measurements and discussion of how wide we need to with the shot, we think that a horizontal view of 4.5 feet would be the optimal width to get the shot we need. After reverse engineering the math, it seems that a 12mm lens will do the trick, giving us 4.45 ft of horizontal view.

Obviously, it is just a little bit short of perfect, but it will do. The real issue is that I don't have a 12mm lens, and they aren't cheap. 

This shot is integral to the aesthetics, but I am not spending this much money to get it. I will have to find another solution... 

Production Schedule

We don't have a lot of time for the actual production of our intro because of scheduling conflicts with my partner. We are cutting it very close to the actual deadline of the project, but truly have no other choice. This means we have to be fast and strategic about how we carry out our production day.

To facilitate the production process, I have created a brief outline for our production, and also a very detailed shot list. This will make production and post production a lot more efficient than just going in with a storyboard and crossing our fingers. We have a deadline to meet and we only really have one day to make sure we get everything done.

We are placing a lot of emphasis on rehearsals because from past experience I have realized that more extensive rehearsals yield better performances from actors.

In this shot list, I put something new that I have never tried which was implementing a column for takes. We can keep track of how many takes we did and circle our favorites, which will make editing a breeze.

Wait... how are we supposed to audition actors?

After posting our casting call, it was imperative that we choose people that could actually act, or it would defeat the purpose of even putting up a casting call.

We needed to audition the actors in some way, but I have no experience auditioning actors for a role that has no dialogue at all, so Andrea and I came up with a bit of an eliminatory process.

First, we switched the application requirements from just a headshot to also requiring an acting reel. This way we can see how experienced they are for the role.

Second, we needed to come up with a piece for them to send as their audition. After a bit of debate, we decided that it would be in our best interest to pick a scene from a different movie that displayed a certain amount of emotional vulnerability and physical anger.

After some searching and brainstorming, we chose a scene from Revolutionary Road. In this scene, Leonardo DiCaprio expresses his anger and frustration with his partner. He acts in an aggressive manner, but it is motivated by love for her and their unborn child.

The scene is a little too long for an audition so we narrowed it down to one page of the scene, which is this one...

Storyboarding

A rough storyboard we made for the script. In the future, I am looking to do a storyboard with photographs to get a better understanding of how the intro will piece together because I am not a very talented drawer.

Getting Actors

Our film opening requires the participation of two actors. Given the violent and twisted nature of the piece, we understood that getting any friends or family to act would be difficult, so we decided to turn to a very helpful resource for finding actors called Backstage.com.

I have posted casting calls on here before for past projects and it has worked out pretty well. Most of the submissions are not very good, but there are always one or two hidden gems who are very talented and committed.

By posting a casting call and using aspiring actors in our film, we can ensure that the people on screen are motivated and have a certain degree of understanding in the craft.

The casting calls can get a little pricey for high school students but I found a coupon online that gave us 50% off, which made the price very manageable.

After making an account, we filled out a casting call sheet that asked for a description of the project and the details of production.

We also had to give descriptions for the characters and the kind of people we were looking for.

Overall, Backstage.com is a great resource for filmmakers and actors alike. Despite living in area where there isn't a big film or theater presence, we still are given access to great talent.

Coming up with a Title.

Now that the script is done, we have to actually come up wth a title. A perfect title is integral to selling a film because it needs to be either short and cool like Inception or Memento, or it can be long and poetic like One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest or Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

A lot of the very popular films within the realm of our genre, psychological thriller or slasher films, usually have very short one-or-two-word titles, for example...

• Split
• American Psycho
• Taxi Driver
• Zodiac 
• Saw
• The Machinist
• Shutter Island

One of the most notable exceptions being...

The Silence of the Lambs

I prefer the longer more poetic names that have a lot of deep meaning. I find them more intriguing, despite most of the movies within this genre being more succinct.

"When We Keep Silent"

We decided to pull our title from a poem written by Stéphane Mallarmé. This poem was originally written in French and I understand that a lot of the original meaning may have gotten lost in translation, but the english version spoke to me.

Although this is just one stanza, the whole poem touches upon the fact that we can never understand ourselves and the world around us because there is nothing is ever truly understandable. Every aspect of life has so much complexity that it makes it impossible. This ties to the theme of blurring the line between good and bad because it is so hard to find reason behind the actions of Trevor and also the actions of everyone else in the film, including the politician.

Aside from being an interesting title by itself, it carries a lot of weight because it is open to many more interpretations. 

I WROTE A SCRIPT! (New and Improved)

So after creating the plot for the movie and identifying intentions for the whole movie, we were able to piece together a script that is a better representation of our goals.

This introduction is a huge improvement from the last one because it is a lot shorter and plausible, but it also introduces the movie revealing themes and foreshadowing.

QUICK SUMMARY: Trevor Mazzini is in his bathroom doing his business when the shower curtain ruffles next to him. Inside the shower is a bloodied person tied to the faucet. Instead of harming him, Trevor shares an intimate moment with his hostage. The guy calms down a little bit, and then Trevor realizes he can't really keep him in here forever and then kills him.

This is a lot better because it introduces the character and his personality: an empathetic killer. It is clear Trevor cares about the guy, but his violent tendencies make him act in a horrendously immoral way. This feeds into our theme of blurring the lines between good and bad. 

A Plot and a Theme Walk into a Bar...

Although it is not required to create a complete plot for the film since we will only be creating an opening, I think creating a more intricate plot and developing themes for the movie is going to make the opening more purposeful and realistic. In this way it will flow better into the story that will (unfortunately) never actually be developed into a feature.

LOGLINE: During the height of the Vietnam war, A lonely projectionist with extremely violent behaviors falls in love with and kills the daughter of a prominent politician. Believed to be a politically motivated act, the projectionist is placed at the mercy of a fearful and unforgiving government and public.

The idea of a lonely projectionist losing his mind is a pretty interesting concept because it is someone who sits in a dark room all day and watching the same movies over and over again. He is consistently exposed to movies and media that are glamorized representations of reality. Movies can glamorize love and romance, but also can glamorize violence. When the majority of your life is spent looking at the world through a movie screen, your world view is definitely shifted.

He envies the people in the movies, desperately wanting to have the amount of human connection as they do.

This is more symbolic of the media we consume on a daily basis.  If somebody back in the 50's could go insane from just movies, then the amount of mental instability must be magnified in this day and age. Over consumption of media does not inherently lead to becoming a serial killer, but one could argue that it does have a profound effect on the human psyche.

Another theme that our movie touches upon is how we justify violence. The Cold War was a time of controversial wars for the United States, especially in Asia. Many believed it was the only way to protect a free and democratic world, while others saw them as pointless wars that were killing too many American soldiers.

Trevor and the politician both act as two different examples of this theme. Trevor is a deeply emotional guy who is just trying to seek affection from anyone that will give it to him, but he is also not able to cope with rejection and has a limited perspective on life, causing him to lash out in violent ways. It is almost as if he kills his victims out of love, not wanting to see them go from his life.

The politician is a strong supporter of the Korean War, which means he supports shipping off thousands of American soldiers to die in a war they cannot win.

Both of these men have a lot of blood on their hands. The only difference is that when Trevor is discovered to be a killer, it is hard for the public to understand and empathize with his motives.

WHY THIS MOVIE MATTERS:

Recently, a lot of movies that have come out in the last three or four years have been politically charged because of the extreme political movements happening around the world, particularly in the United States. These movies are highly popular and trendy, taking home the vast majority of the Academy awards the last couple of years, so we think by making a film that includes elements of the United States' political history, we are better able to connect with audiences of today. Some examples of some recent films with heavy political commentary are...