The MoFo Filmmaking Thread

This sounds awesome.

And amazing work @MovieMeditation, everything you've done there looks fantastic too.

Over the last couple of years, round about the time when we had the first lockdown I start writing a feature film script. I got talking to @TheUsualSuspect and he helped me flesh it out and between us, we got it to near the 90-page mark.

I was happy with it to a certain extent, but it's still got a lot of work needed. I got talking to someone who's a script consultant who's created/written two major Welsh BBC shows (the UK's national broadcaster) and he called me to give me a load of advice for the second draft and what to do next.

I've been sitting on the notes and coming up with ideas for the next draft for a while now, but haven't done any work on it for about a year. Hopefully posting this, I can give myself a bit of motivation to get the next draft finished.

I would share what I've got so far but I know I'm gonna change stuff quite significantly in the next draft and already have a lot of quality feedback, so I don't wanna share something I now consider outdated. Hopefully, I can get the second draft done over Christmas where I have a lot of time off.

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Silly me btw, I saw all your photos and actually skipped this post. Watched it now

Great stuff, everything production-wise seems really strong and I'm loving the sense of humour in it. The Scandinavian Specsavers

Haha no worries. BUT I would lie if I didn’t wonder why you skipped what all the other posts were actually about

Glad you liked it. It’s was tough work. Usually you are a big group when making a movie. Even smaller shorts have more crew than this - at least if you gotta work on a more “professional level” in terms of quality in lighting, camera, sound etc.

So yeah, 4 people in total was tough. One camera guy, one sound guy, me on all lighting and grip etc and one guy who edited and therefore was a huge help on set as the extra hand. But he had many tasks. Kind of controlling production and ensuring we met our goal and that the script came through and also help oversee every shot so that we knew it would edit nicely once done.

And we didn’t have many days either. But we made it and I’m pretty satisfied with it so that’s good.

I was just scrolling through the thread and missed the posts, I saw all the production stills and thought it looked top-notch, went over it again and realised I missed the end product.

I can relate to what you're talking about. About 6 years ago I made a short film with a few friends including my brother, wrote up a 45-page script, and thought we'd be shooting loads of improv and have the time and space for our creativity to flourish. To get us all together, get to locations, stuff set up, was so much effort. Plus getting good takes, we shot about 25 minutes worth of footage and used about 20 minutes of it. The end result I wouldn't watch again now, although everyone on here supported me. Can't remember if you were around then and saw it.

The end result I can look back and say now that it wasn't great, but it was a blast at the time and an awesome 2 weeks. I've changed a lot since then but it definitely opened my eyes to how much work was involved in even the simplest production.

Yours sounds a lot tougher obviously! Especially considering it's for a professional company and those standards are very high. Makes the end result even more impressive considering the constraints you were under!

I do remember your short. I remember it quite clearly actually. Okay perhaps not the overall details, but I definitely remember the time where you shared a lot about it and a lot of us members were interested.

Yeah, filmmaking is tough. And God I hate pre-production. That’s probably the worst phase. Cause that’s when everything is just all over the place. You got a deadline coming in the near future, you got no locations, no actors, no story, no nothing. Barely no money. And you just sprint through that phase trying to get as ready as you can so the shoot will be as smooth as possible. Although it rarely is that smooth. Filmmaking is often just problem solving. Lots of big shots in the industry have said so and it’s definitely true.

I love post production the most, cause even though rough cuts often look really bad, you can slowly see it shaping up and when what you thought worked on set actually works in post too, it’s amazing. And seeing your images graded and looking good is always nice.

When you are on set in production is tough and stressful. You never have the time you think you have. But once you setup a shot and you take a step back and just see how it all comes together. That’s such a nice feeling… right up until it’s on to the next one and you have to see if you can nail it and be satisfied once more haha

I'm not a filmmaker. I spent about 10 days on a set many years ago as an extra, and that was enough to convince me it was not a lifestyle I would be interested in. (The craft table was nice, though.)

But I do have a friend who is making a movie! Shooting is almost completed--I think they'll finish next week. I've read a few of his previous screenplays and they're typically very good, though I haven't read this one in preference of seeing the finished version (or at least a rough cut). I do know it's a small production with a limited cast, a drama with comedy elements (Mike Nichols I think is the main influence here).

Hopefully there will be more news in a couple of months and eventually some way to actually see the thing.

Very cool. I came close, but no cigar, and after that experience, I just imagine it in my head instead whenever I do.

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https://www.youtube.com/c/LoyalOpposition

I'm starting a new project very soon. I've been doing a lot of preproduction on it these few weeks/months and we start shooting in a little over a weeks time...

It's a music video from a song by an up and coming artist. It's a story-based music video (so no artists in the video). The basic concept of the music video is a young guy (the main character) chasing his love through different memories and dreams, which will reveal both sad and happy moments. It will have a very dream-like "searching" quality to it and movies like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Everything Everywhere All At Once are inspirations in some shape or form.

Like with my last project - and for anyone interested - I hope to share some stills from the music video, some behind the scenes shots and of course the final project as well when it's done.

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/watching movies for mark f/
MovieMeditation's Cinema Reviews // Film Diary 2015 // Letterboxd Profile // MovieMeditation's Top 50 Horror

Alright, I'm back from a five days shoot and everything went pretty well.

The music video is being edited now as we speak with a deadline on Wednesday. Until the final product can be revealed as well as more detailed BTS photos, I have here some appetizers on what we have been working on.

As stated earlier, I've done the lighting on this production

The project is now completed and we are going to premiere it for friends and family next Friday.

I will upload the music video to YouTube in a week or two and share it here with y'all for those who care. Until then, I have here a few screengrabs from the project. I hope you like it. Overall I feel like I was quite happy with the lighting I created on this one. As it is my latest project it does make sense that it's also the one I'm most proud of so far...

Here are the screengrabs

Attachments

 

I never did return to share the final result. But anyway, here it is for those who care

I didn't text it because the small amount of dialogue there is, is not important to understand the story. Hope you enjoy. I did the lighting on it.

Very cool. Felt a little Lynchian to me

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Haha. I definitely took some inspiration from Lynch here and there. glad you noticed