Los Angeles is wearing shorts

Tomorrow morning team MVH is heading out to L.A. to screen our short, ‘Nora’ at Filmapalooza. Our screening day and time is Saturday (March 9th) at 12p at the Graumann theatre. We fly back Monday morning.

Filmapalooza is the festival/showcase for all of the 48 Hour Film Project city winners across the globe. We’ll be competing against 110-120 other 48hr winners for a chance to screen at The Cannes Film Festival this May.  Top ten films get to go! Here’s hoping.

Regardless, we’re proud of the movie and are thrilled to go (but we still want to win). 

Screens and traveling (this is not a basketball update)

This past Saturday I had the first official work-in-progress screening of The Lengths. It was only four people including myself. Naturally I was nervous and anxious - the sounds wasn’t finished, and not all of the scenes had real clean edits, but I surprised myself. 

After months and months of pouring over this footage, I didn’t think, nor expect to still be surprised by the movie. However, until Saturday, I hadn’t seen many sequences, let alone the whole movie straight through. I’d only been dealing with individual scenes. The film flowed really well, had laughs in the appropriate places and the characters were endearing. Overall I would call it a success. We had some great discussions afterwards and got a some really good notes. The most positive thing for me was the excitement after the screening. None of us felt worried about the story, or motivations, etc (albeit all of us watching were pretty familiar with the story already). But there was excitement. There is a clear movie. Currently unpolished, but a definite story. 

I know many of you are anxious to see it and I’m still standing by my September release/premier/private screening(s) date. Some will get a chance to see the next two or three works-in-progress screenings, but for the most part I want to keep it kind of hidden. I hope I’m not too boastful in saying this, but I want to keep it hid because I don’t want to ruin the surprise and enjoyment of seeing it in it’s final, completed state. I think you’ll agree when you do get to see. :-)

I’m so excited to finish this and share it with you. 

Watch your mouth or I’ll cut you(r lines)

As the co-write, director and sometimes narcissist, I believe every word of dialogue is intrinsic to the plot - but they’re not.

While cutting a scene the other night I struggled with the pacing a three character argument. I wanted to make sure no character was forgotten or left out. Joel and I were very aware of this when writing and often had the reactionary character of the scene throw in a quick line to remind the audience of their presence. If flowed well enough on paper and even so in the master. However, when we started getting into tighter shots those “hey-I’m-still-here’ lines really threw the pacing out of whack. Instead of reminding the audience of their presence with a nudge, it felt more like a full on haymaker. 

So, begrudgingly, I cut the line(s). Still wanting to keep everyone present and accounted for I started using more reactions - looks, glances, stare downs etc. Not only did it allow the attacking character to maintain continue an uninterrupted rant, it created a deeper, more interesting, reactionary character. Now, instead of passively defending or supporting the receiving character they’re just watching and allowing them to take the verbal abuse of the attacking character. By muting their voice and letting them speak with their eyes and body I was not only able to maintain my tab keeping objective, but also kept the pace alive, added depth to a character and heightened the drama. It was a win-win-win-win (the line lost).

So yeah - three total post, two about reaction shots. 

Tim 

Website Overhaul

I’m thinking the website could use a face lift. What do you guys think? Anyone in the know on cool Tumblr designs? 

Festivals with $0 submission fees

Here’s an article from NoFilmSchool. Check it out.

On The Horizon - an actual update

The immediate tasks and deadlines are very clear while other objectives are still a bit cloudy. 

Still editing. I am on pace to lock picture on/by March 31st and  from there we’ll head into sound design/edit/mix etc. It’s a little unclear what that looks like, but there have been significant developments in that arena (for a later update). 

In the mean time it’s plugging(cutting) away in the editing room and these fun adventures… 

I’ve applied and was accepted to be part of One Spark, a live crowd sourcing festival to be held in Jacksonville April 17 - 21. I will be setting up shop in the Main Street Park and will be utilizing Rusty-T as my ‘tent’ and base of operations. I’ll have an a/v unit set up to show trailers, and clips from the film.

One Spark has $250k that gets dispersed amongst the creators via crowd votes. So… if I get 10% of the vote I get $25k. If you’re in Jacksonville, FL, or have plans for a vacation in April, come out and vote for The Lengths. Shahid Kahn (Jacksonville Jaguars owner) is also donating an additional $1million (don’t know how/if that’s divided). On top of that $1.25 million, anyone at the festival can choose to donate. It’s like Kickstarter, but in person.  All additional funds  raised will go towards sound, music/score, color correction and festival submission/travel. I’ll probably also make another Kickstarter-like video… but for post production.

In addition to One Spark, I’ve applied to to IFP’s (independent filmmaker project) First Time Filmmaker Labs. If accepted I’ll get some valuable resources and contacts to help push the film through post and into festivals and or distribution. 

And finally, because I noticed I had too much free time, I’ve started a podcast! I’ve been interviewing fellow zero budget filmmakers who are in various stages of completion about what it was like for them to get their project finished and what they learned along the way. I hope to get it syndicated through NoFilmSchool.com and hope it will be helpful to others who are thinking about making that first-film leap (and selfishly to bring attention to me and The Lengths - I really love attention). I was hoping to have that published by March 1 but it’s looking more like an April publication. 

Now that was an update. 

Tim

A Lengthy project

Like the above pun? Yeah… it was bound to happen. 

I’m hoping to write some kind of update a day. Even if it’s very brief. 

Had a few struggles with a scene last night. Balancing the three characters and their changing attitudes and perceptions of each other is a very nuanced business. When it works it’s great… when it doesn’t… it’s… odd. The first half of last night was a journey through oddities. 

As a person I have a difficult time with silence. There are, of course, times when I enjoy a still nothingness, but more often than not I like a bit of noise, even if it’s just white (I put baseball or basketball games on when I read or write).

But, I’m very grateful I have actors who relish it.  After taking a moment and walking around the office I came back to the edit and played much more of the scene off the uninvolved (in the scene’s conversation) character’s reactions. It gave the silences a weightiness and the overall scene a great sense of tension. The scene will get another pass or two in the coming weeks but it’s nice to go home feeling positive about your days work. 

That’s the update for now. I hope to give you another tomorrow morning. Thanks for following! 

Tim 

20 Screenwriting tips

This is a post from Ryan Koo, creator of NoFilmSchool.com and writer director of the upcoming film, MANCHILD. MANCHILD will be his first feature film. His tips are insightful, honest and worth the read. Enjoy!

http://nofilmschool.com/2013/01/things-helped-finish-manchild-screenplay/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+nofilmschool+%28NoFilmSchool%29

Short film from The Brothers Lynch. Stellar use of split screen. It’s a little longer at 13min, but it’s worth the time. Enjoy! 

Music video from Carlos Lopes Estrada for the band “El Sportivo and the Blooz”. Some great imagery in the final scene. Enjoy!