The Making of A Movie

Is there a documentary or something that "chronicles" the entire making of a movie but not just like showing the making but also talks about how the stuff happens and who does what. Hmm?
 
Is there a documentary or something that "chronicles" the entire making of a movie but not just like showing the making but also talks about how the stuff happens and who does what. Hmm?

Prologue...
I Would NOT copy everything about how he does things... No sane person would.

All the recent Troma Entertainment features (Citizen Toxie, Terror Firmer, Poutrygeist) contain lengthy "making of" documentaries, that are VERY informative for the novice filmmaker. Lloyd is a nut, BUT he is also a filmmaker with 40 years experience and a wealth of knowledge. I think they are all contained (the recent "making ofs") on his "Make Your Own Damn Movie" box set.
 
Is there a documentary or something that "chronicles" the entire making of a movie but not just like showing the making but also talks about how the stuff happens and who does what. Hmm?
Let me know if you find this. actually, I heard Robert Rogriquez's first film (El Mariachi) has a GREAT DVD special feature. He made it for $7,000, I think, and walks you through the entire process.
 
Is there a documentary or something that "chronicles" the entire making of a movie but not just like showing the making but also talks about how the stuff happens and who does what. Hmm?


Absolutely! Check these out. They show what was involved to get the movies done. Christopher Fenney asked me if he could post them for his behind the scenes website, so they are now on Vimeo. They run about 30 minutes, each. It is usually easier to just download the file, which Vimeo will let you do, on the bottom, right side of the page. Here are the links:

A SPACESHIP IN THE BACKYARD

GUNS, GIRLS & CLONES


Perhaps, easier to access the .mov download, via Chris's page
 
Last edited:
For someone who has been making films since 1981 his sound is consistently horrible.

Not true, at all.

Ron, are you referring to the 2 links, above? Trust me, the source dvds sound fine. As I stated, those docs were grabbed off of the discs and compressed by a 3rd party - Chris Fenney. I agree, that whatever Vimeo or Chris did makes them sound like crap. Regardless, the links should still interest the O.P.

Now that you've made sound an issue, perhaps it would do you good, (since you just bought your DVX100b and are shopping for a shotgun mic) to read my posts on the subject. You saw the footage of my Recording/Composing setup? I can filter, reverse, chop, vocode and wave modulate audio to subtle or extreme results. It also pays to just capture good audio.

For movie production, I keep 4 mics on hand for recording - 3 Sennheiser shotguns of varying lengths (ME64, 66 and 67) and a Phantom powered Audio Technica. For my current shoots, I get most of my dialogue in closeup, where the mic is within 2' of an actor's mouth, which I did in the above interviews. Like you, I also use Panny cameras (dvx, hvx) and they have excellent audio converters for recording without a mixer. Not only that, they allow you to set two different levels, in case your actors want to yell and try and distort the input. You can set one level lower, so that doesn't happen on that channel. Simply copy the appropriate side to "fill" the opposite left or right signal in your editing ap.

In case you think I'm full of it, here are some MP3 audio examples from my current project. I recorded everything with the ME66 in these. I had no sound man or DP - just me with the camera and a mic stand, on location.

Android Reyna kills Kam patrol in fog

Jason captured by soldiers

Reyna doubts Jason


No doubt that I've learned a lot since 1981, when the Super 8mm projector would only allow you one pass with the "mix" setting. (meant for adding music) One mess up and you had to re-record the whole thing. I learned about foley, early on.
 
Most people thought "American Movie" (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0181288/) was one of those documentaries that exist so hipsters can make fun of the subject matter, but to those of use who've been there...who've tried to move heaven and earth on bad credit to get our visions to the screen...it was a pretty decent depiction of the typical madness that encompasses zero-budget, no-audience independent film.
 
Absolutely! Check these out. They show what was involved to get the movies done. Christopher Fenney asked me if he could post them for his behind the scenes website, so they are now on Vimeo. They run about 30 minutes, each. It is usually easier to just download the file, which Vimeo will let you do, on the bottom, right side of the page. Here are the links:

A SPACESHIP IN THE BACKYARD

GUNS, GIRLS & CLONES


Perhaps, easier to access the .mov download, via Chris's page


After seeing how so many big budget films are made, it was interesting to see how some of the "others" do it.

It looks as though they had FUN !

Thanks for the link.
 
After seeing how so many big budget films are made, it was interesting to see how some of the "others" do it.

It looks as though they had FUN !

Thanks for the link.

Your welcome, Ian! Most indies won't see a dime from their efforts, so having some fun is essential to keeping a mostly volunteer cast and crew going. We were fortunate to recoup on both movies.
 
Back
Top