"Almost" Update

Well, I did a rough edit of the park scenes we shot on Sunday, and I have to say that I really like how it turned out.

It remains to be seen whether anyone else will like how it turns out. But at least I like it.

Got a question. Once Almost is finished, is there anyway we will be able to see it. Do you plan on putting it online, or distributing it at all. Or could we just order a copy from you?

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I'll have VHS copies available.

Sweet. I'll definitely be buying one of those. I'd buy one if it were the dumbest movie ever -- just have to see that script come to life. Too cool.

Oh, just a bit curious: what kind of camera are you using? I mean, is it setup like a tripod, or is it more like a camcorder, so you can walk all around the actors, etc? Just trying to picture what it must be like...got any behind-the-scenes photos?

I thought about behind-the-scenes photos on Monday (after we had wrapped for the week), so there aren't any so far (though Gavin did shoot some behind-the-scenes video, but I don't know what he's doing with that). But I will have some behind the scenes photos starting with the next time we shoot.

The camera I've been using is a Canon XL-1. It's a just a fancy camcorder that weighs much more than it looks like it would (especially after you've been holding it for several hours). There's a picture of the camera here: http://www.canondv.com/xl1/index2.html

We've used a tripod for some scenes and some we've done hand-held. The hand-held stuff was mostly in the park where the camera had to move while the actors walked (meaning I had to walk backwards, by the way, which is also harder than you'd think). We didn't use the tripod at all for any of the park stuff (even though we could've for a couple of set-ups. It was just easier to go hand-held, though). I also went hand-held for one of the bathroom scenes because there wasn't room in the bathroom to set-up the tripod.

I also went hand-held for part of one of the living room scenes because the camera had to pan down from Sean & Jamie standing to Sean & Jamie sitting. It was just easier to go hand-held for that.

Oh, and I went hand-held for a different part of that same living room scene because the camera had to pan up from Sean bending over to Sean stading and then to Sean kneeling (gee, do you think I might have given away which scene that might be?)

Must...have...updates. Must...have...photos of cast/crew. This has become, for me, the third most anticipated film of 2001.

I'm afraid you're going to be severely disappointed if this is third on your list. It's not even third on my list.

We didn't do anything this weekend. This was a scheduled weekend off. I went to Amarillo to see my kids, and Jeff Hoferer (Sean Connery) was also out-of-town.

We're starting back up on Thursday with rehearsals and we'll start shooting again on Saturday morning.

I forget that not everybody has a copy of our shooting schedule and didn't know we had scheduled this past weekend off.

I am going to try to put some footage from the first two days on the web tonight. And probably some stills from that footage, as well (unless it just looks like crap trying to make a still from the interlaced images. We didn't shoot in the "film mode" that the XL1 has).

What are your top three, then? For me, it's third behind LOTR/Harry Potter. That is, unless I'm forgetting something. I mean, I'm sure some others will be better, but it's different, because I've followed this from it's origin. I'm not thinking "this movie is going to be amazing," I'm just excited about seeing it come to life. Ironically, that's the same reason I'm looking forward to Potter/LOTR...seeing those images "alive" for the first time...although those will also be visually stunning, and all-around amazing movies, in my opinion.

Oh, I really haven't ranked the movies. I'm just trying to downplay our flick so people will be pleasantly surprised when it turns out to be a watchable movie.

Don't want to oversell it.

i wanna see it pretty bad myself, actually. i didn't read this thread until just now because i didn't even know shooting had started. did you really just shoot using an ordinary video camera? isn't there a huge difference between video and film? what i mean is you know how home movies look compared to real ones. i'm really really interested how you just upped and decided to make your own movie. it has to be pretty complicated.

Yes, film does look different than video. But video shot on an XL1 looks different than something shot on a regular video camera, too. So, it's somewhere in between film and home video.

It's high dollar to shoot on film, though. And since I'm learning, I thought it better to learn on a cheaper medium. So video it was. I struggled long and hard with the decision, but in the end, I just didn't have the confidence to shoot on film this time around.

I am going to shoot something on film next summer (16mm). I'm working on the script outline for that one right now. But I just didn't have the confidence to start with film. At minimum, it would've been a $10,000 expense. When you don't feel like you know what you're doing, you don't want to spend $10,000 grand trying to figure it out. Better to spend a couple of hundred to learn and gain confidence.

I've wanted to direct a movie for many, many years. In many ways, it was time to do it or stop wanting to do it. I decided to just do it. And, again, since it's on video, the expense isn't as high as it would've been, so it was easier to make the jump even though I have severe confidence issues.

wow, that's actually a really inspiring story, believe it or not. i don't blame you for not wanting to shoot on film to start out. i wouldn't have done that either. i'm sure the movie will still look great on video.
anyway, it's really admirable that you decided to go for it. i think that's a really good trait in people, and it's pretty seldom that you see someone reach for something that they've wanted. i hope everything goes well

Well, it's nice to be an inspiration for once rather than a dire warning of things to come like a usually am.

you are an inspiration. do you know how many people have the balls to do what they want with their lives? not too many. most people just sit around and take orders. good movies are created by entreprenuerial people like you, so you ought to be really proud.

Do you have a dolly? How are you lighting it? Are there any weird angles? How many cameras are you using?

Ohhh, this is incredibly cool. Are you planning on trying to find a distributor?

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he explained most of that in previous posts. i think it's pretty amazing, too.

No dolly yet (though there's a place where I can get one if I find a place to put it in). We've been doing a lot of handheld, but the tripod has been locked down.

We haven't don't any really tricky camera angles yet, really. We've done the standard shoot the people in the mirror thing on one of the bathroom scenes. I haven't felt bold enough to try anything too tricky yet as this is a big learning experience. But I figure that by the end of the thing, we'll have a bunch of those sorts of things as I grow comfortable with doign such things.

We're just using the one camera, by the way.

As for lighting, I've been using halogen lights to augment the natural lighting we've got. And for some outdoor stuff, we used reflectors to highlight the actors faces on close-ups. Lighting is another area, though, that's going to look better at the end than at the beginning. It doesn't look bad now (we're certainly not underlighting, which is a problem with many independent productions), but we're not experts at painting with light just yet. It's a learning experience all around (thankfully I've got Gavin to help out since he's got more experience than I do, especially with lighting).

As for distribution, we'll see when it's finished. I plan on sending it to people, but I understand that the odds are stacked against me. At the very least, though, we'll self-distribute through the website by letting people buy VHS copies if they so desire. We've got some other leads beyond that, but nothing I really want to get into right now.

I'll probably also try to get it into a film fest or two. I'd like to see the thing projected on the big screen at the USA Film Fest or one of the Austin ones (and perhaps Houston. I could fill up a Houston screening or two, I'll bet. As a matter of fact, it might be worth it to do a Houston screening on my own).

But if the thing just dies on the vine, I'll still be grateful that I took the time to make the movie. At the very least, it's a very good learning experience. And I plan on doing another one right after we've finished this one... and one right after that.... and so on.

Cool. Very cool.