I'm 17 and just wrapped my first feature

Do you think the initial one could be disappointed though that Kiser is only in four scenes? He might think he was a more main character, and then when he sees the final film, he could feel mislead. Not that I want to cause worry, I am just saying, I hope he didn't think it was something else. It just seems strange that an investor would want a movie based on an actor only having four scenes, that were not even written for him yet, until after you already told him you could get Kiser.

But I hope he's okay with it :).
 
That's a wonderful story, congratulations for your perseverance. I look forward to watch it, although giving distribution schemes and other problems I might never have access to it from Italy.
 
Hey,

Great achievement at such a young age, I wish I had that passion, enthusiasm and dedication at such a young age.

I am not sure if I am missing something here or that it has already been mentioned but I can't help but feel your synopsis sounds very similar to "The Breakfast Club" not saying you are ripping it off haha just merely interested in if that film was an influence when writing?
 
MarkAsplinUK said:
Hey,

Great achievement at such a young age, I wish I had that passion, enthusiasm and dedication at such a young age.

I am not sure if I am missing something here or that it has already been mentioned but I can't help but feel your synopsis sounds very similar to "The Breakfast Club" not saying you are ripping it off haha just merely interested in if that film was an influence when writing?
Click to expand...
I think he made the film as a modern version of the breakfast club lol
 
Harmonica: The agent didnt care how we used him. The original distributor guy I haven't spoken to since that first time. I'm not worried either way if he's in a lot or little in my movie. It is what it is.
Daniel: I hope you see it too. Now we are officially locked at 1:26:55. We shot a new ending Friday. I play a skinhead and my hair was growing back. Then I had an audition about a month ago for modern Family. So I did a mohawk,then shaved it and now I have hair again-so we did one more scene.
ThanksAPZ: Well, I'll have a place to rent/buy online
Markasplin: Very Breakfast clubby. Hey I only had so much money :)
 
Yeah I love the movie. Judd Nelson turned me down though. At least he got back to me.
* Terry Kiser is the man. He called me today and asked how I was doing and wanted to know how everything is going.

I also got the rights to Bea Millers song Youngblood. It's starting to play on the radio too!
 
It's been a pretty cool last couple of days. I got into Rendevouz Film Fest in Florida. They had over 1800 submissions and we were one of the 100 that was accepted.

Then I found out the movie I worked on directed by Jared Hess got into Sundance. I have 2 scenes opposite Sam Rockwell. But now that I have edited my movie I can see my scenes being edited out. Time will tell.

Then I just got a phone call from a festival in Texas and they are making arrangements to get me to their fest to show and discuss my film. So my worry is over that only friends and family would see this.

I'm submitting this as works in progress too. Any ways that is the latest.
 
Wow brother, your concept, initiation, and follow through is inspirational. I remember that drive when I was a teenager. I knew exactly what I wanted to do at 17 and that was work in law enforcement. Well, now, I'm a Federal Agent. Way to go bro! I have always been creative as well. Wrote a short story in 8th grade, that was submitted to a national writing contest because my English teacher saw potential. Didn't go far in the contest, but she fostered a love for the power behind the written word and pushed me to continue to write. Since then, that story has turned into a 15 chapter novel....still unfinished. I have had some poetry published and am now 80 pages into a script on the Civil War. Someday, I hope to see my dream realized and have it filmed.

Anyway, I read your post and thought I would say, "Way to go! And, never let go of your dreams my friend!"

Matt
 
Thank you Sgt!

Seeing there is no back up plan I gotta make things happen now! I'm in desperate mode which helps I think... If I have a backup plan I will fail!

Now to find the next screenplay to produce next summer...anyone?
 
SgtPen91st said:
Wow brother, your concept, initiation, and follow through is inspirational. I remember that drive when I was a teenager. I knew exactly what I wanted to do at 17 and that was work in law enforcement. Well, now, I'm a Federal Agent. Way to go bro! I have always been creative as well. Wrote a short story in 8th grade, that was submitted to a national writing contest because my English teacher saw potential. Didn't go far in the contest, but she fostered a love for the power behind the written word and pushed me to continue to write. Since then, that story has turned into a 15 chapter novel....still unfinished. I have had some poetry published and am now 80 pages into a script on the Civil War. Someday, I hope to see my dream realized and have it filmed.

Anyway, I read your post and thought I would say, "Way to go! And, never let go of your dreams my friend!"

Matt
Click to expand...

That's a funny story. I had a similar thing happen in middle school.
My teacher selected the assignments that she thought should go on to the contest, mine was NOT among her selected. I submitted it anyway and won $50 for 2nd place :lol:

Conor I always thought film was more of a pipe dream than a realistic career option but you seem to be doing great for yourself, that kevin sorbo thing is awesome!

Now I am into film 100%, but only because I want to make something beautiful before I can die happy. If I can eventually do my sci-fi feature then that would be even better.
 
Last edited:
The color is still being graded by someone on here. If they want to share who it is great. It still needs to be mixed and a little more scoring is needed. It will finally be all done at the end of the month. We are cutting it very close as it is playing in its first film festival in Austin March 14th. Come on out. It is then playing in Victoria Texas the following Saturday. They are kind enough to be flying me out to that one.

I'm having a work in progress showing at a theatre locally Feb. 28th. Two days ago I released the first 8:44 of the film to hopefully get people excited or for them to find out not to waste their money. So if you have 8:44 to spare-here it is. http://youtu.be/3izAb7ECTSw
 
theconnorwilliams said:
The color is still being graded by someone on here. If they want to share who it is great. It still needs to be mixed and a little more scoring is needed. It will finally be all done at the end of the month. We are cutting it very close as it is playing in its first film festival in Austin March 14th. Come on out. It is then playing in Victoria Texas the following Saturday. They are kind enough to be flying me out to that one.

I'm having a work in progress showing at a theatre locally Feb. 28th. Two days ago I released the first 8:44 of the film to hopefully get people excited or for them to find out not to waste their money. So if you have 8:44 to spare-here it is. http://youtu.be/3izAb7ECTSw
Click to expand...

First of all, congratulations on completing your first feature. It's a massive accomplishment to anyone, never mind someone as young as yourself.

I'm going to be quite critical, as I think it's more beneficial to you in the future:

  • I think the RC Copter footage was over used and felt disconnected. By that I mean, cutting to and from the Copter footage brings the viewer out of the film. I can imagine you had a lot of fun with the copter and wanted to use as much footage as you could.
  • The audio was very poor. You'll probably hear from many filmmakers that audio is extremely important. It's worth remembering to invest more money in renting/buying audio equipment than video. There was a part where one of the female characters spoke in the car and it completely cut off.
  • The lighting seemed quite harsh. I'm guessing you didn't light the scenes at all? Where a male character climbs out of bed to his alarm and looks in the mirror is badly lit. We can barely see his face, he's behind the shadow from the ceiling light.
  • The pacing was off. I think that 8:44 clip could have been halved in time. For example, when the Skinhead enters the office and talks to the girl behind the desk. It was very awkward (I understand she was supposed to be hostile towards him, given the tattoo etc.) Lot's of awkward glances to one another and lots of walking that was unnecessary.

Those points aside, you did a good job. It was miles better than I thought it'd be. You actually made a feature film which is something to be proud of! Most "filmmakers" spend too much time talking about it and not enough creating. Congrats and keep working.
 
i am going to be critical too, but I only want to help. One thing I would suggest is to loose the title sequence, and save it for the end, kind of like how movies like some movies do. I mean almost everyone in the cast and crew are unknowns, so people would not find a title sequence like that interesting, unless it were a movie with knowns in probably. If you really want a title sequence in the opening, I would put it over the scenes with the actors, as they talk and what not, instead of in aerial shots with a song playng, cause that just puts your audience on hold, know what I mean?

The color grading also changed in some parts, but the grading could possibly be fixed easily. The choices of lenses were too wide in some shots, in my opinion. I also thought the shutter speed could have been lower in several of the outdoor scenes, but if you did not have an ND filter for your camera, or something of that sort, than I understand why you turned the shutter up high.
 
Last edited:
I noticed the camera was set on auto?
In some shots it's convenient, but in others it causes a fluctuation in brightness.

I don't think the problem of the RC shots is the fact that they are RC shots, but that they seem random, except for the last one moving towards the police car.
(And maybe a little long.)

The slowmotion is a nice gimmick. To me it's a little bit over the top, but it also shows how cool your nazi-character thinks he is and how the rest looks at him.

Having said that: you did a great job.
I'm twice your age and the longest I worked on as cameraman/director/editor was a one hour live broadcast with prerecorded scenes.
A feature is on my long list of things to do... :P

However, if you have the time after the edit is all done, you should consider to make a short trailer.
Although this opening is an honest way to show what to expect in one way, it doesn't say much about the story.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top