48 hours 2015 - Film Competition - My entry Review

Why Won't she Love me? - The story behind the story...

FRIDAY 1st May

7pm. From the third floor balcony of AUT, LJ and myself stared down at the AV screen on the ground floor of the centre. A huge crowd of people were there, waiting for the start of the 48 hour film festival (www.48hours.co.nz). Teams have 48 hours to make a short film that's no longer than seven minutes, includes a prop, character and character trait, line of dialog and camera technique all supplied by the competition leaders, to be included in the finished film. Nobody is paid, if you have A list actors, they must be volunteers to stay in the spirit of the game.

Professionals, semi professionals, amateurs and first timers all enter. And it's normally quite fun/stressful :)

When I arrived there, LJ already had our case of V energy drinks (one of the sponsors) and the number 4 in black marker across it. When the genre's are announced, we are assigned whatever 4 equals. We watched the intro, the line we had to use 'Oh really", the character 'Harper' -thoughtless, the technique -Match cut/ match dissolve and then the genre list...

This year we were assigned ROM COM. Wow. This will be fun? I hadn't entered a team in this competition since 2011, and I've eatched the odd rom com but they are always quite tacky, the last interesting one I watched was About Time which was quite smart...LJ was just as excited, ieas were running rampant but we were cautious too -we had seen some big crews at the opening event and it would basically be Her and I running ours.

 It's a short film. It has to have a great start, middle and end, have a stong finish, not necessarily a twist but something memorable to walk out with. And each line has to have a purpose. And it has to be a rom-com. Fish out of water then fishes together or couples that should be together already but something always comes up. what to do? Humor doesn't come from the lines but from the characters playing it straight. Hmm.

On the drive home from the event, A nice 20 minute cruise, I came up with an idea....The story should be of a young man, Dillon, who shows up to pick up a date he's never seen but exchanged messages heaps online, but somehow they don't really gel in real life, the fun and games from this result in a bad mix (the laughs) and a resolution (the twist/finish)

That night I stayed up and banged out a script as best I could.

FIRST CHALLENGE

I txted my actress I had organized a week before as she had said she wanted to be a part of the festival and looking for a team. She didn't txt back. I realised then that the first challenge of the weekend was at hand. I had organized a second actress Kat (who was already part of another team) to play a minor role if she could but that would depend on her team, I txted her to found out they were shooting at a beach miles away so a Saturday shoot was out of the question for her but she was super keen so I mentally penned in a Sunday am shoot. But that still left the main part, I frantically facebooked and txted past actresses for a replacement, everyone had either been too old for the part, busy with another team, our team was below their standards, not interested. Luckily, LJ said as a last resort she was happy to act so for our film it was to be the directors acting as well as editing and writing....frustrating as it was, I was comforted by the fact that it wasn't my first time taking part in this circus. 

I txted my actors, and ended up calling them, they wanted a meeting time but without an actress was hard to come up with one on the spot, decided to tell them beach 11am so done with it and could finish on Saturday as normal rule for me is friday write, saturday shoot/cut. Sunday edit/render/hand in.

The original actress did end up messaging me back, she wasn't in Auckland this weekend and didn't understand it was this weekend. Again, something for me to work on. Next year, I was telling LJ, we should have like 20 actresses/actors on call. And some crew. Cos this year this also meant the wife would have to do camerawork for us. Which luckily for me, she didn't mind..too much.

SATURDAY

Saturday came around, bright and early 6am I was on the computer checking messages having gone to bed 1am, trying for last minute actresses. I txted everyone that we would meet at cockle bay at11am and start shooting, the first scene involved a small action bit as my guy tried to impress the girl with his heroics, only fr it to end pearshaped. Check out the location :)

Been here maybe 3 months before, rainchecked it for a future shoot lol The actors got caught in traffic and not having a GPS found it quite hard to find so ended up getting here at 2pm, during the meantime we shot the beach walk scene and then just waited, trying to plan what else we could do.

After finishing the scene at around 4.30, we went to Maccas for lunch/dinner then went home as lighting was gone and deciding I would edit everything we had tonight. Tomorrow we would then film the montage scene as well as the final scene when Kat arrives. Went to sleep at like 2am, but happy that half the editing would be done. Tried to sleep, was wide awake/worrying/planning/imagining this going downhill fast.. we only had 2 and a half minutes of edited footage... On time so far...

SUNDAY

Lj and Kat met us at out place 8am and we got to it, shooting the interior scenes, then outside scenes on the street.

Apart from dealing with the odd kids in the background or lawnmowers and aeroplanes it went well, especially bread throwing scene. I was a bit concerned with set ups but that's filming isn't it, everything takes twice as long as you think in your head. If it wasn't for this stupid deadline of 7p tonight then it would be OK, but it's the whole point and time was running out. The ducks were happy though, fed them alot of bread haha.

After we finished we raced around a couple of parks and places I had in mind for the final scenes (making sure we got the match cut shot of shell turning to bread - you'll see) then back to my place at 3pm to start editing what we had shot today. It seemed impossible but the very word means 'I'M POSSIBLE' . So I went to work the normal way, importing the raw files into Premiere and reviewing the footage, cutting out the takes, choosing the best ones and trying to make the cuts smooth. LJ sourced some soundtracks and eventually we cut together the short film. We found out that the mornigns shots before we went outside had no sound. It appears the mic app was loose, practically kicked myself for not checking as meant first bit had to be soundless as no time to reshot. LJ and I revoiced our bits but Kat was long gone so will have to get here to resound her bits before I upload here to youtube for you all..Heats version is on the 48hour website.  frantically tried to add some fight sfx, missed a couple but got the main ones in there I think.

 Enough is enough, we're out of time and we started rendering at 6pm, I still hadn't time to watch the final edit, Just checked the cuts and hoped for the best as this laptop isn't super powerful so can't watch things in realtime. I'd find out what it turned out like later that night.

SO with laptop rendering and an estimated finish time of an hour (remember deadline at 7pm so cutting it close) we got in the car amazing race styles and headed to the city centre to hand in what we hoped was a just in time finish. Took as ages to find a park, meanwhile the wife has the laptop open telling me how long its taking when I ask, we find a park about 10 minutes away and jog down the street, holding the laptop, praying it would go faster. When we get to the hand in event there are hundreds of people, we find a table and watch the rendering time. 3 minutes on the clock. 4 minutes left to render. We're done, this year is over...

It finished, I put it on the USB and LJ handed in our finished copy 5 minutes after the deadline, exhausted, proud, relived and battleweary - but this at least means we can see it on the big screen at the heats. Hope people at least laugh...

 THURSDAY (heat night)
It was raining, but Melody and I arrived at Academy cinemas excited/nervous to see it our finished short film in a room full of strangers. During the heats when our short went on screen (5th of 12 shorts to show) I remember sinking into my seat, I want to be an actor but seeing myself up there is still a bit wow - did I do that? Some of the sound was off (again, I never saw the final edit before handing it in) so hard to hear the whisper bits, and missed the kick sfx.

I was happy 'Why won't she love me?" told a story and was simple enough for people to follow and get with. People laughed at most of the scenes that we aimed for laughs so that was good as our genre was a rom com and my biggest concern was getting laughs, I'm an action man, laughing's for villians ;). Competition was tough that night, it seemed everyone in auckland knows how to shoot a film lol but our stuff was just as good so relieved.... 

Anyway, left the cinema with the team who seemed happy with the result on screen, so happy for the team, they worked there ass off and it shows up there, really proud of it and our weekend from hell, now back to The Bulletlist webseries and getting that marathon done and completed :)

REVIEWS BELOW

Below are the reviews. Critics critique so cest la vie, We're happy with what we got all things considered...

'Why she won't love me.' by Dark Pictures

Team name: 

Dark Pictures

Film name: 

Why she won't love me.

Genre: 

Rom Com

Heat: 

5

City: 

Auckland

Average rating: 

2.1625

Your rating: None Average: 2.2 (4 votes)

Dogs Breakfast

3.01

This fell into the awkward romcom category for me. There was some amusing stuff in there but wasn't really tight enough to pull it off completely.
Next year they could improve their film with more attention to sound, it was hard to hear some of the dialogue, but this is what this competition is all about.

spanky_the_dolphin

3.01

I think the actual title for this one was 'Why Won't She Love Me', but never mind.
I think this film was hindered a lot by it's technical issues - mostly the badly captured / mixed audio. There were quite a few lines that were just inaudible.
The thing that stuck out most to me though was the story, or more specifically the ending. I felt like it really hurt the film when the guy ran away from the girl he'd just accidentally taken on a date. They were just warming to one another and it seemed like such a weird decision for him to make. It made the audience think less of him as a character and bad for the girl he left behind who we'd spent the whole film getting to know.

Liam Maguren

2.03

Technical woes aside, I wasn't really into the story on offer. The two never "clicked" on the date - she was downright repulsed by his dwebishness - making me want them to break it off rather than root for their happiness together. When the ending tried to sell you on a potential bond, I just couldn't buy it.
I enjoyed the robbery scene, however, That was well done.

Rooks and Knights

4.06

A little shakey on technical and story, however I still liked that they tried to push for us to see a different side of the traditional "romantic comedy" genre, I was sure if the cringe moments were intentional or accidental but I liked the risk.

Nick Depree

2.03

Decent concept, but it wasn't really sold by the actors or script, I didn't quite buy why the 'wrong' girl would go with him in the first place, why she would change her mind quickly at the end, or why the guy went after the 'right' girl anyway. The robbery scene was done quite well and the actors there were amusing. Sound quality definitely let it down, making some lines very hard to understand. Not a bad effort, but clear directions to work on next time.

 ________________________

Thanks for reading the blog and hoped you could take something from it, I will post the link to the video in the next blog :)

Matt.

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 :)

The Bullet List - Day One (again) Episode One - Gabriel vs Tom

So as you've previously read I have rewritten The Bullet List so it's coherent, has a story to follow, is quick to film for lowbudget and some great action scenes. (best I've done/attempted anyways)

Here is the link to the Facebook site to stay up to date with the latest news :)

Yesterday we reshot the car fight scene and it turned out great, the location seemed seedy but was quite expansive and the actors sold the story well, can't wait for you guys to see it, in the meantime here are a couple of screenshots below, if we stay on track we should be airing this thing by late June early July! :)

Prepping for Bullet List. Day 1.

I have confidence! If nothing else, this dream of being an action film maker/actor is all I have. I have had a good week at work getting my targets and some closed sales and had great compliments from customers, you're the man! This boy, he's number one! Can I buy you a coffee? All sorts. Feels good but my heart rumbles at this day job knowing deep inside it's not what I want to be doing with every fibre of my being, the only thing holding me back is me and the decisions I make, so no more indecision's because even that is a choice unto itself. I choose to make it happen, now.

So after much procrastinating/time budget issues and fear of failure I have finally set in motion The Bullet List. All week I have been thinking about this project, when it is done and finished I can use it to make an IMDb profile, cut into a show reel and fund-raise for my first feature, I can see the road and where it will lead me but first I have to START it ;)

 I'm still a little iffy on the Bullet list script as I'm sure I could have done better but I'm done waiting and if I keep tinkering it'll never be finished. It's better to have a prototype than an idea on paper. I don't want to be THAT guy, the OCD and  perfectionist type. I love to create, to get out there and do it, so here goes....

Tomorrow will be Day one of the shoot. From looking at my schedule I have 18-25 days (extra days depend on the fight scenes if they stretch out or not.)

 I have casted Toutai in the role of Dean, SIS Super chief and good friend Steve Heke as my opposite, Special agent Johnson. The day will be made of three set ups, at three different locations that feature conversations between the two. I thought it would be easier on all of us if we tackled the dialog/drama stuff before we head to the action scenes as I want the action scenes to be special and I want to sort out some cheap tables and stuff to break when we shoot them.

It will be shot out of sequence obviously to take advantage of the cast's availability and at the moment this will be all of 'Dean's' Scenes. I will post some screen shots when I have them next post.

I'm so excited/nervous. I'm pretty worried as I'm only using my JVC camera. (below) and I only have to one battery at the moment (trying to track down some extra's) so hoping it holds out for me, it almost ran out when I was shooting No Way out some months back and had to rush the last scenes, no rushing this time, It's going to be done right!

 Also this week I bought the matrix trilogy as my wife hadn't seen it yet, since I quote jokes from it all the time. Watching it again I realized how much it had inspired me first time round, the philosophy, the action, the fleshed out characters and the excitement at new possibilities. This is definitely how I wanted my films to be. Awesome!

Don't lie, we've all tried it ;)

Shooting Day One starts tomorrow. Here we go!