Short Film #3

     My film still doesn't have an name. Unlike art or music, movies have to have names. I'd be fine with Woody Allen films being called "Untitled #7" or "Feature #15", but I guess the suits wouldn't stand for it. I will tease a name out of this damn film soon. I had less trouble naming my son.

     Since I don't have a great name that clues you in on what my film is about, I'll share a bit, in 25 words or less. That's how they do it in Hollywood. Well, if this was Hollywood I'd start with, “It's a cross between...” But this isn't Hollywood, and thank God for that. Still, I'll give it to you in 25 words or less.

My film is about a single mom who must write a short story in five days. She gets distracted by sex, yoga, and fun things.

Twenty-five words exactly. Nice. What that doesn't tell you is what's actually at the heart of the film, the themes. These are procrastination and inspiration. In the film, we look inside “May's” mind, that's the lead character by the way. There are scenes where she is daydreaming or working out things in her short story. These are going to be a big challenge for me as a filmmaker. I will be using the Adobe After Effects program to build these interior scenes. I'm making video puppets. I am still deciding if I'll make actual puppets and shoot them or build them digitally. When I was originally hatching this project, I was working closely with my long time art cohort Christina Forbes. She was going to build the puppets with me and the sets for them. She passed away this Spring, so I'm sadly having to do some serious rethinking. Luckily, I have someone who is going to be helping me with visual effects, Lyle Arnett. He's pretty kick ass at this stuff, so he has agreed to help me make it look good. My mind's eye is bigger than my technical stomach or something like that, so he's going to be key in making these scenes work. Though I'm very sad to not be able to finish this project with Christina, I'm really looking forward to working with Lyle and seeing what I can come up with now.

So back to the themes of the script. If you know my past work in theater and print, or if you know me at all, you know I tend to gravitate toward sex and procrastination. In that regard, I'm still doing what I've always done, but I've changed mediums. I'm extremely excited about telling this story using film. I feel like film lends itself to the kinds of stories I want to tell. I don't want to be limited to a stage. In film, you get to master time and space without all the tedious typing of a novel. I love it.

On a nuts and bolts note: I've got producers lined up. And my main characters have been cast. I am now working on becoming a SAG (Screen Actor's Guild) Student Signatory. If I manage to do that I can cast members of the union but don't have to pay them union wages. There are a few “stars” in town that I'm going to hit up to make cameos in the film. Why not? More on all that as it develops.

I Can't Believe I'm Doing This

     I'm doing what I said I would never do, I'm writing a blog. Before you start up with the hilarious comments, I would like to tell you why I'm doing this, because I have a purpose other than wanting you to be wowed by my insightful writing.

     Yes, I have a purpose. Finally.

     I am now entering my third and final year of the University of Central Arkansas' MFA Digital Filmmaking program. This year I will produce and direct my thesis film. It's a film I wrote last year, though it's been in my head in some form or other since I applied to the program. I've decided a blog of my experiences making this film might be entertaining, and give, particularly non-filmmakers a view into what it takes to make a short film. So I'm actually starting my blog during, what I like to call, pre-preproduction.

     I have my script. I have my lead actress and a couple of other roles cast. I have a preliminary budget but no money. I can see what I want it to be, but that's about it at this point. I have no crew. I have no locations. I have no set shooting dates. At this point, on a good day, I think of my film as the Taoist un-carved block.  On a bad day, I think of it as screwed. In other words, it's very exciting times.

     In this blog I will write about every aspect of making this film. I'll write about finding a crew, about raising funds, casting actors, shooting, editing, defending it before my committee and entering the film into various film festivals next spring. At this point you may be wondering what the name of my film is, well, me too. I'll let you know here first.

     In my next post I'll tell you a little about the film itself, and what I as a filmmaker am hoping to accomplish. Until then, please don't think poorly of me and the fact that I've started a blog. I promise not to talk about raising kids or politics.