Fist of Justice/ Power Station (shortfilm) Making of.

Seriously?

The rain hit the ground trying to inflict lasting bruises on the pavement. The heavens above literally opened up and pissed itself. All this deluge as I open the door on a cloud filled day ready to shoot my short film I had spent the whole week preparing for. No. Not today. For every problem there is a solution. I just have to think. Breathe. Ok.

I've scouted a great outdoor location, problem. outdoor. Raining. Mud. Equipment. Shit.

I drove the around the neighborhood. Something with shelter. Somewhere public. 

Solution. It's Easter Sunday, why not shoot at the mall parking lot, not many people if any, no damage, no advertising or offended companies, should be sweet?

So the plan was changed. I met LJ (my DOP/ camera girl for the day) and Kamy (first time actor) to shoot 'Fist of Justice'. Cool title right? Hope no ones done it before, then again, I don't care, its my short film so I'll call it what I want :) Anyway, I asked them to follow me to the parking lot where the story wouldnt have to be altered. I had bought a blue french shirt to play the part as a traffic warden/cop a couple days earlier ( I mentioned this last post) and wore dresspants and shoes and bam! Character done :)

LJ owned an awesome DSLR camera and she definitely knew her way around it, she even changed lenses for some of the shots and had her own stedicam like rig. I smiled as I knew I'd talked to the right person to collaborate with. I was impressed. I had never met her before today or Kamy, so life has a funny way of working out. He had come to India some years ago, has a TKD background and has learnt other arts on the way, he wanted me to refer him as a ninja since is his latest martial art of choice to study. He had done a TV commercial before and some modelling and had a passion for martial arts his whole life and had wanted to do a film like this for a long time. So our paths crossed and we combined to make the magic happen on screen :)

We barrelled through the drama shots building the story up as the cop catches the thief and the end drama scene. (no spoilers here). SO all the acting was done, the part, the meat of the burger, the FIGHT scenes were all that was left to shoot, saving the best for last :) 

The fight scene will have to be shot another day. This is all that remains. ps. yes, equipment in shot lol.

So we stopped for lunch, then returned to the location -to who do you think?

Mallcops. 

Seriously? I explained to them I work in this mall (I do) and didn't think we would harm anyone shooting a film on an empty lot which didn't influence/intimidate/inconvenience any customers or show any company logos, that the owners wouldn't even recognize the damn place unless we pointed it out. However the two security guards in their golf cart explained now they had seen us they couldn't permit us to continue., lets call them brains and brawn, and pack up our stuff.

I suggested couldnt they turn a blind eye and forget they ever saw us? we have been here the last 4 hours and you didnt show up once? I wanted to ask management for permission to shoot here however as its a public holiday they are closed so catch 22? I didnt even want to film here. Complain to the weatherman. Brains says come back tomorrow when the are open and get permission. I say, how? we all have work tomorrow as you know. Let us finish the hour or so we have to go and I will get the permission form them tomorrow, just for you -.

In the end, there is no winner to an argument, everyone loses. Either respect/ face or integrity. Seeing a waste to valuable time ( we were losing daylight!) I gave him my businesscard and said terminators line (I'll be back) and I asked the team to follow me to the original location, The park beside the powerstation and we'll shoot a practice fight scene there and make a short film out of it. No script, improved fight scene and see what happens. We got this far, lets finish somthing and come back to this later.

So here we are. Old school Matt. A camera and 2 actors ready to go at it for camera. This time the camera moves though with an awesome camera person who took direction really well as well as creative solutions of her own. Decided to shoot this way the way I was planning on shooting JUSTICE. 

I've been watching alot of oldschool 80's HK actions films over the last 2 weeks, keeping myself inspired I guess. They use the zoom ins and zoom outs to great effects so chucked them in there, as well as still WIDE shots with long takes, as well as some of the handheld stuff the Raid series was so good at making the most of. I like it :) Looks good, hope you agree once you see the finished product :)

POWERSTATION is the title of todays film :). This short test film will be edited by myself by the end of the week hopefully as finished rough cut tonight. I just need to add music to it and all done :) Check out some screen shots so far :)

Great shot by LJ, awesome composition and balance :)

Taught Kamy and LJ that people come from everywhere when we shoot in public, this interesting fellow popped out of the bushes behind the container lol. He smiled, nodded and watched as we kicked each others ass for a couple minutes

Stance off :)

Kamy's first action short film, looking pro :)

Getting better with each fight I get to create onscreen, looks cool anyway :)

I just wanted to share with you guys my day today, the dream continues!. Only you can be in charge of the way you feel, and if you set yourself a goal you can achieve it, as long as you are flexible and smart enough to challenge obstacles and be the change you want to see:) Only dead fish go with the flow ;) Keep an eye out for my next blog :)

Getting scheduling done for Bulletlist shoot and Kung Fu Elliot

The Bullet List project is finally underway. All day at work I'm trying figure out what I can do on this project when I get home. Been reading 'Three feet from Gold' by the Napoleon Hill foundation and Greg S reid, its full of inspirational stuff and living your passion, so it's great I'm back to my old habits of staying inspired via reading/watching others who have achieved their dreams and it feels nice to get some motivation back, I was suffering from self doubt there for a little minute.

"The knowing. There is a big difference between believing something and knowing."

I know I can be an action star. So what am I waiting for? I've got to get out there and start training again, get mingling and network with other creatives, take any extra jobs I can, sign up for a real acting agency and do what it is I'm really here to do. Customer service pays my bills but my soul doesn't feed on cash. With that said I'll share the little progress I've made since my last post here on the project.

I've copied and pasted the six episode scripts together into one celtx file and it turns out this project will be an hour long!! (that's if the one page equals one minute of screen time ratio plays out, it won't, the action scenes will be cut much longer). Needless to say, for a simple project this still turned out to be something ambitious. This will be the longest project I've ever completed myself but I'll finally have something to call my own!. This is exactly what I need to do.

Below is a screenshot of what my breakdown looks like for when I was figuring what scenes to shoot when so I can try make this achievable. I worked it out to be sixteen different locations.

And below is the first page of my script. Proof :)

Now that I have my jacket for the character of Mark Maxwell, I just need to find some nice kicks and design a simple Tshirt (so I can sell it via my merch site for any enthusiasts but also to stay unique) for him to wear.

Next for the project is the intended camera shots (Shooting script) Exact locations -Might get a camera on my next day off and go on a photo spree :) And then figure out some equipment. Sound is my biggest issue, and half the picture so a biggie!

This weekend I just realxed otherwise, caught up opn The Transporter TV series, definately not statham but an enteratining show nonetheless with some good action scenes, one liners, hot chicks, explosions and car stunts. Bought the wife a bike today and put it together, nothing more empowering than building something, even if I am following instructions ;) Tomorrow We are goign to watch a documentary I saw a trailer for since it's playign at NZ film festival this year. It's a docu on someone similar to myself. He's a big fan of chuck norris and 70's action films (like me lol) and canada has no action stars so he decided he would become one and has dedicated his life to following his dream, it looks funny and sad at the same time but hope for his sake he found happiness. I wanted to watch this in case there are any mistakes I can learn from and to stay realistic with myself. I know the chances of making it are small, but there's still that chance.

Anyway, the trailer is below for those who might be able to find it on netflix or something like that, til next time amigos!