What steps have you taken or work have you done to move towards your goals recently? Fledgling ideas edition.
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Sorry folks. Didn't get home in time to post the follow up thread. Lets keep the work train going!
Are you doing a parody or more of a Brooklyn Nine Nine/The Office thing where it just examines the funny things that can happen?
I'll post some of what I'm working on later on if this thread is still around. I'm glad to see these threads becoming common again, guys.
Looking forward to it mate, what kinda stuff are you working on?
I'm happy that they're doing well too. We can fill up about a full thread a day at our current post rate. Hopefully as the weeks go on we'll get more people coming in and get some more activity.
>tfw in the last week of preproduction for my thesis film
JUST fuck my shit up
Who here are doing the Aaron Sorkin and/or Werner Herzog Masterclasses?
>going to film school
Why didn't you go to films?
>Why didn't you go to films?
If you mean why didn't I directly just start working on films, it's because I didn't have the means to or even know what I really wanted to do.
After 3 years I have a pretty wide network of contacts for just about everything, and I also know what I like to do on set, and got some paid gigs doing it while studying
That's awesome user! What's in your pre-production to do list (already finished and left to finish)? What's your film about?
I look forward to seeing anything you can post about it while you start!
I have two producers and a ~5000 budget
Shooting for 4 days, 5 locations (i know)
Pretty much everything is ready, just have to get some film permits, meeting again with my DP to go over some shots, meeting with my actors to rehearse some scenes.
All i can say is feeding 20 people for 4 days is fucking expensive
That's great. Is the budget something that y'all had to work to get or is it part of your schooling? Does the budget have to cover equipment rentals as well or does the school have that on hand?
Load up a crock pot, easiest and cheapest way to feed a bunch of people hah. It'll all be worth it once you've got the whole thing done I'm sure.
I'm working on a sci-fi bit where androids that have been damaged/destroyed or disposed of are sent back to be factory reset to a blank slate.
One is destroyed by an owner that defaulted on their payments, and is rebuilt, but improperly reset, and retains the memory of what happened to it.
It causes the android a lot of grief when it's sold to be a caretaker unit for a new family.
Don't know if it's any good, but it's good practice.
Budget was something I had to have personally, but the school provides all the equipment
It's a 2 ton package, red dragon, arri 1ks, kinos, jokers, dollies, and plenty of grip stuff. Enough to shoot a movie with for sure
Good premise. I shall steal it.
I wrote a screenplay but have no idea where to go from there. Any advice?
Thanks, I guess.
If you can write it better than I can, it should be a pretty good movie.
How'd you go about getting the money that you did? Friends and family or did you hit up other people/businesses?
That's a nice idea, it's kind of vaguely like Robot & Frank (in that there's a robot care taker). Don't pay any attention to they're never gonna do anything with it. Someone who can't even come up with an idea is never gonna make anything.
Keep going with it!
You can film it yourself or start showing it to friends for their opinion and rewrite based on any weaknesses that they may find. You can try to shop it around but if you don't have any connections or work backing you up you probably won't get very far.
>Robot & Frank
Never heard of this before, but it looks pretty decent! I'll have to find it somewhere in the future.
Sweet dubs. Yeah, Robot & Frank is great, I really enjoyed it. It might give you some additional ideas. Watching people get attached to otherwise inanimate things is weirdly endearing.
I was thinking of doing a YouTube Vlog focussed mainly on writing and making stuff in the blogs and occasionally doing a bit on certain topics, going over my writing ideas and talking about the feedback I've gotten so far.
Would people be interested in that? The stuff I'd talk about would be pretty basic.
>Free screenwriting software
Don't forget these two:
>Amazon Storywriter
storywriter.amazon.com
>Adobe Story
story.adobe.com
What workflow do you guys use for planning and structuring? I once wrote a screenplay with a general idea of how I wanted it to go, but I winged most of it and as a consequence, the pacing and such was unsatisfactory.
just rewrite it
Usually start with an idea, and then try to identify the mist satisfying way the storyline could go, after that I outline with those story goals in mind, and further develop the plotlines until I think I've got all the major points sorted. Then I start writing the first draft to iron out the wrinkles, and then the endless drafts commence.
But the deciding how the story should best be told overall is the most helpful to the whole process. If you need to identify possible themes and whatnot.
You can use a three act structure as a basic modeling tool and using something like flash cards with individual scenes/sequences written on them that are easy to relocate for better flow. You can also use something like a kanban board online (with something like Trello) and make a board for Act 1, Act 2, Act 3, and Misc. Ideas. You can also do collaboration with that pretty well. Plus it's free!
You have something fully written down and that's one of the hardest parts. Now you've gotta do some rewrites and some editing to get it in tip top shape!
Did we ever find somewhere we can upload high res pics for a lookbook? Imgur and Tumblr fuck up the quality.
Pinterest?
Something like 500PX or Flickr might work. Google Drive is another option that you could use. You get about 30 gigs of space for free.
I need unlimited space, but I'll check out 500px.
You can upload highres pics there?
It's unlikely that you'll get unlimited space at full resolution without paying for it.
ImageShack has that, I think, but some of my pictures weren't uploading.
A comprehensive list of alternatives to Imgur:
Finished a first draft of my second half-hour animated pilot at the end of last month, been so swamped in work that I've had no time to do anything since. Maybe time to revisit it and polish?
A really short film I made recently.
youtube.com
Just got gifted the Sorkin masterclass for my birthday, haven't started it yet, though.
Cute. Smart with keeping this one short. But there's one big problem.
Tone. The intro and outro credits are tonally inconsistent with the subject matter.
I'm not entirely clear: is it the second animated pilot you've made or the second half of an hour long animated pilot?
Either way, absolutely return to it! Now that you've had some time after writing you'll be able to see it with entirely new eyes I'm sure.
What's the premise?
That's a great gift, I love Sorkin (for the most part). Let us know how it is. I've been debating picking up a couple of the master classes but I've never talked to someone who had one.
This will be the second animated half-hour pilot that I've written. I wrote another one late last year and finished it up early this year in time for Austin submissions.
Yeah, I figured now was about the right time. My problem is I already know some things wrong with it, making me more hesitant to return to it. I'm the kind of guy who likes to get thing 100% right the first time, which reeeeeally sucks for this kind of work. Just gotta condition myself!
To keep it vague enough, it's a fantasy-based action-adventure-dramedy in the same vein of shows like Avatar: The Last Airbender and Steven Universe. It's about a trio of unlikely allies and their adventures in a dangerous fantasy world: a thief learning to be good, a creature learning to be human, and a child learning to be queen.
Just from what I've already heard, it sounds like something that is very much "you get what you put into it". But I'll be sure to report on my experience with it.
These are much better than the shit I was using, thanks.
Alright I've posted this piece of shit here too many times before but I finally feel like I'm getting somewhere.
>talked to a friend about helping with editing
>actually went to the location and took some pictures (which I'll post in a second)
>already have a main actor
Just need a guy to play Jones, get some actual dates set up, maybe find some extra equipment for moving shots and I'm fucking Golden.
Aforementioned pictures (run through a Prisma filter as a shoddy substitute for actually drawing Storyboards)
1/3
2/3
3/3
Jacob and Jones? Do they need to start with the same letter?
Why is Jacob shrugging? The only people to shrug like that alone are in comedies. Is this a comedy? Is he shrugging at the lights or Jones? Either way, it seems like an unnatural response.
Jones "appears to the right?" So he was in the passenger seat the whole time? How would Jacob not notice? Usually in these types of scenes, the character appears in the back seat.
There isn't a strong opening image, which isn't always needed, but the opening scene doesn't do much for Jacob, as we don't really learn anything about him.
fuck user
this is some memery LOL
>un through a Prisma filter as a shoddy substitute for actually drawing Storyboards)
smart AF
i salute you for your resolve
also whioch filter
I just want to thank all the anons in here for making me realize the importance of visuals and visual inspiration. I never thought about but subconsciously it's probably the reason why I take so many screenshots while I'm watching movies.
Also, I'm going to try and add more video essays to the blog tonight.
If there's any you want on there specifically feel free to submit or respond to this post with them.
>Is this a comedy? Is he shrugging at the lights or Jones? Either way, it seems like an unnatural response.
I didn't know how to write what I actually want it to look like without describing camera movement.
>Usually in these types of scenes, the character appears in the back seat.
I mean he's supposed to be in the back seat, but like he pokes his head through the little space in between seats
>The opening scene doesn't do much for Jacob, as we don't really learn anything about him.
I hadn't actually planned much beyond this but I want to portray him as a sort of burnout aimless stoner type should I actually flesh this out. How should I go about doing that?
I'm just gonna film one page because I haven't filmed in a while. If the response is good I'll expand on it.
I mean it's literally supposed to be a meme (see pic related)
Thx
It's Heisenberg, which I've found give a nice graphic novel quality to it.
>Bummer.
Minor kek
That's cool, do you do the animation yourself as well?
Sounds like you've got some stuff to keep in the back of your head while you read through it. I'm sure you can come up with fixes for all of it. We all want to be the genius who gets it all right in the first go but that's a freak scenario hah.
Don't post shit like this user. Constructive criticism or nothing. You're just wasting space and being a dick.
I'll definitely add them. I can't believe I didn't have Adobe Story in there already considering that's what I've been using.
Have you made any changes since your last post user? I like the idea of using Prisma, the shots you took look pretty good. Those'll be good angles to replicate for the actual shooting. Have you talked with the store owner about shooting it in there?
Play Jones yourself if you have to (if you're not already playing Jacob).
>How should I go about doing that?
Costume design will do wonders for this. Everybody knows exactly who pic related is and what he's like just based on how he's dressed. A mixture of that and some 'out of it' acting will go a long way towards making your character understood without saying anything.
Forgot the damn pic and on a dubs post of all things. Here it is.
>Don't post shit like this user. Constructive criticism or nothing. You're just wasting space and being a dick.
what do you mean? I'm complimenting him on his meme.
He literally acknowledged that was the purpose of his scrip. if anything i am reaffirming that the script hits target.
>Have you made any changes since your last post user?
Aye, shortened Jones' dialogue simply to "Drive." on a friend's recommendation.
>Talk with the store owner
These guys have been good to me before, it shouldn't be too hard to convince them.
>Those'll be good angles to replicate for the actual shooting.
That's the plan.
>Costume design will do wonders for this.
Funny, I'd always envisioned the character wearing PJs and a T-shirt, to really push the point home that this guy is just fucking around in a Walgreens at 11pm.
Thanks for the tips, appreciate it.
>tfw you can upload PDFs to /gd/, but not to Sup Forums
upload to google docs and link it, friend
>That's cool, do you do the animation yourself as well?
No, can't really draw to save my life. Wish I could, though. I recently got a new idea for a shorter format show that I think I might be able to scribble out, but haven't tried yet.
>I'm sure you can come up with fixes for all of it.
Thanks for the vote of confidence!
How do you feel about the recent Disney movies and their villains? I'm referring to the twists in Wreck-It Ralph, Zootopia, Frozen, and Big Hero 6.
Wreck-It Ralph and Zootopia did it right. Turbo was hinted at early on, and the reveal of Candy being Turbo was well-placed and thematically sensible. King Candy was already a bad guy; we just didn't know how bad a guy he was. In Zootopia, the question wasn't so much who was orchestrating the predators going savage as it was why they were going savage. The fact that it was Bellwether, again, just made sense, though I would have liked to see a bit more of her plotting and such. Still, everything she'd done had made sense.
Frozen and Big Hero 6 did it wrong. Hans was not supposed to be the villain. It was a clear that the writers were pressed for time and had no idea what to do now that Elsa was no longer an antagonist in their story. It truly came out of nowhere, and for the worst reasons. Big Hero 6's twist sucked because it wasn't really a twist. Callahan was obviously the bad guy. There were only three options as to who the masked man could be: It couldn't be Alistair, because he was the red herring. It couldn't be Tadashi, because he's dead, and because if he somehow got out of the fire, there's no way he would attack Hiro. So it's obviously Callahan; them trying to play it off as a twist was redundant.
That's pretty accurate imo.
I still think the Turbo twist was fucking brilliantly executed.
Thank you for a well thought out answer. I'm writing a movie with a similar villain twist and I'm trying to figure out how to go about it.
I don't want people to think I'm just ripping off Disney. And seeing as how I want this movie to be animated audiences would probably expect it.
>These guys have been good to me before, it shouldn't be too hard to convince them.
That's good. I'm nervous to ask any nearby store owners if I could shoot in shop. It's mostly big chains and stuff, no mom and pops but I guess the owner of a WaWa isn't necessarily that different from the owner of some random stop n' shop type place.
>Funny, I'd always envisioned the character wearing PJs and a T-shirt, to really push the point home that this guy is just fucking around in a Walgreens at 11pm.
Sounds like a fitting costume design then! Might be worth going to Wal-Mart or something really late at night and seeing what weirdos are wearing there and making some decisions based off of them.
I know the feeling about wishing you could draw. I got into photography because I was so incompetent at drawing. Have you looked into how expensive it might be to have it animated for you? Or at least blocked kinda roughly done?
Now go out and earn that vote!
I haven't seen Zootopia or BH6 but I liked Wreck It Ralph. I thought Frozen was decent but it was so hyped by the time I finally saw it that it wasn't as impactful. The villainous turn by Hans was kinda weak but I liked the ultimate message of the movie. It could've been done better with some earlier indications that they wanted to take over the throne.
bump
Rebump
Change one of the characters names cause they sound too similar.
thanks man
bump again
I have a technical question. How is this shot called and how is it achieved?
xmovies8.org
>jump to 0:16:23
Is it just a regular dolly movement or is it playing with zooming?
There is a change of perspective, so it's definitely not just zooming.
Probably just a dolly.
How does combination of image and sound cost tens of millions of dollars
If you were in Auckland, New Zealand. I'd help you with your lighting and probably DP it for you.
That's just called a dolly in. Then a cut in to lessen the length of the shot.
Thanks for your help bros