The Return of Horrors of War II : the Wrath of Hitler’s Finger

It seems I can never escape my first film. HORRORS OF WAR just popped up in Sweden. All new DVD art, and without any notice to the producers, directors, or anyone else. The new cover art is obviously inspired by Inglourious Basterds, but pretty darn cool. SEE PIC BELOW

Along with this surprise DVD release that no one thought to tell me about, I also received an email from someone in the UK who bought the DVD. Now this became interesting if for no other reason than the interesting content of the note.


I live in the U.K and films are my life. I own over 500 dvds and still have over 300 vhs video tapes stored away in a cupboard. I love any kind of film from comedys,action,thrillers,mysterys,sci-fi and horror films are my favorite.My wife brought me this film for my birthday last year but it was titled Zombies of War and when I opened it I could not wait to watch it as I love zombie films.That night we watched it together and to be honest we both thought it was a pretty bad movie, the sound and picture was bad and the story kinda jumped from one thing to another. I didn’t really get it and the film felt like it went on forever.

Now I have not sent you an email to bash the film,quite the opposite. Im sending you this to say well done.

I have read all the posts about this film on IMDB and while I agree with most I was really surprised to see that you were on there responding to the messages.

I have never seen that from a director,actor or producer before and I have to say it was pleasing to see that you and the people who worked on the film went on there to not only defend the film but not to get all shitty about the negative response from the posters. You answered all the posts with a very positive attitude and I salute you and your crew for that.I can imagine how hard it is to make a film with all the time and effort and money that goes into it all and if you don’t make a great movie then you can still hold your head up high knowing that they are selling and renting copies of the film around the world and you can say I MADE THAT.Not many people can say they have made a film and had it released on dvd so well done to you. I will continue to follow your work and hope that one day you will have a blockbuster on your hands.Im sure if you keep working hard it will happen for you.As I say movies are my life so I will give anything a watch and if you ever do any filming in the U.K and need any extras I would love to help.

Much like the mixed signals in the email, I have mixed emotions. I am quite proud of the movie HORRORS OF WAR, but it also resides as a perpetual pain in my ass. I failed critically and artistically with my own intentions for the film. We did better than 95% of indie films made in that we got distribution and my feature film is available at Blockbuster, Netflix, and Amazon.com as well as in over a dozen countries. We put money back into the investor’s hands, which even fewer independent films ever do.

As for IMDB, I’m not famous or even infamous. I have the time to go and respond to my critics on the Internet Movie Database. Being polite and respectful of dissenting opinions is just a common courtesy. Grown ups realize that not everyone will like your work and you have to accept that and learn to live with it.

I respect this guy's opinions and criticisms, even the ones I don't agree with. If by some miracle I shoot a movie in the UK (very unlikely), then he's more than welcome to take part.

Director’s Cut vs. Special Edition

Fans of movies love to see alternate or longer versions of their favorite movies. There are basically two different types of extended cuts for the most part, a DIRECTOR’S CUT and a SPECIAL EDITION. What is the difference between a “Director’s Cut” and a “Special Edition”?



I remember reading the back of a Laserdisc, an album sized video disc, in 1991 of James Cameron’s Special Edition of THE ABYSS, and shortly after a laserdisc of ALIENS special edition, where Cameron clearly wrote that these are NOT “Director’s Cuts”. Contractually, James Cameron had final cut on the theatrically released films, so his cut was the one released. The concerns about running time and the impact that has on box office returns is a part of his job and duty, he went on to say. Home video affords him the opportunity to add back in scenes and for James Cameron, whole subplots back into the film and they can be seen as alternate versions, and thus “Special Edition” is the apt title for these versions.

Usually a “Director’s Cut” implies that the studio or the producers made editorial decisions against the wishes of the director. In the case of James Cameron, he was fired from his first feature film, PIRANHA 2 THE SPAWNING and he did not have final cut. He vowed and has upheld that he would contractually have final cut on every movie he directs. After the debacle of what happened to Ridley Scott on BLADE RUNNER, you would think he would have similarly made sure, but even as recent as 2005, over 20 years later, he still has to release a Director’s Cut of KINGDOM OF HEAVEN because the theatrical version was not what he intended, although there have been extended Special Editions of BLACK HAWK DOWN and GLADIATOR released, that are not considered “Director’s Cuts” because in his DGA contract, he had final cut on those films.

Peter Jackson got proven right when he made KING KONG. During the LORD OF THE RINGS and the huge success of the “Special Editions” (not “Director’s Cuts”), when asked why he didn’t release the extended cuts of the films, he said that the only reason people say that is because they have something to compare them to, and that the initial films were very popular. With KING KONG, the main criticisms (including my own) are that the theatrical cut (technically a “Director’s Cut”) was too long and self indulgent. He even then released a LONGER “Special Edition”.

Everyone Lies and Misspells

My reading habits have not changed. I read a paperback of some kind of pulp fiction, then alternate with some kind of film production book, whether it be a picture based Behind the Scenes, an Illustrated Screenplay, or a text based Making Of. I just finished one of the very few brand new books I bought, as I am addicted to Half Priced Books. I can’t even drive past a Half Priced Books without losing money and getting no less than 3 books. I just finished reading HOUSE the Official Guide.




Usually these “official guides” are not great. They tend to be fluff that just rehash moments from the scripts or worse have the producers and actors play a game of “State the Obvious” where they rehash what should be clear about their characters motivations. I hate those. This book managed the impossible and was a delicate balance, weighted in the production side, with some fluff, but not too much.

I loved reading about the various department heads and “Below the Line” crew and how they contribute to the whole of creating a TV series. Over 10 years ago, before I ever thought of doing filmmaking, I bought a similar book that strange as it sounds, taught me some of the best knowledge EVER about television production. The MAKING OF DEEP SPACE NINE, the Star Trek series had information on how a pilot works, how residuals work for SAG actors, the process of a “show runner” and how writers go from Executive Story Consultant to Executive Producer and what all that means. Learning that a TV Producer is more akin to a feature film director was an eye opener. Directing TV is not the same thing as directing a movie. There is NO AUTONOMY; it is such a team effort.

I feel much better about my book TALES FROM THE FRONT LINE OF INDIE FILM because there are more grammatical errors in the HOUSE book and that’s published by a big company.

Next in my film book queue is THE MAKING OF 1941, a period 1980 book on the Spielberg flop, that I sentimentally love.

Multimedia Musings

I own the multimedia playing device called the WDTV from Western Digital. I love this thing. I first bought it for the Cowtown Film Series (in 2009) because I hate playing things off an optical disc at a screening in the movie theater. DVD’s and even Blu Rays have inherent flaws in that the videos are greatly compressed to fit on a disc. So you lose color, sharpness, and basic picture information before you blow it up on a giant movie screen. This seemed counter intuitive. So I found this little box that plays the video in full 1080P HD glory off of a hard drive and if needs be, even in surround sound.

Many people are musing about the future of optical discs because standard definition DVD is definitely on the natural decline. Sales in 2010 are down over 20% from 2008 at the same time. Blu Ray has not taken off as it was intended, mostly because of the economy being stressed, which is not a great time to launch a new format, especially under Sony’s guidance which means way more expensive without dropping in price. Another factor is that the saturation of HD TV’s into the home is merely catching up to the Blu Ray market, and even then the importance of picture quality is not weighing well against the idea of re-buying DVD collections.



The other factor oft-theorized as to why Blu Ray has not expanded is digital downloads and file-based distribution of movies. Netflix’s ever expanding Video On Demand service indicates that the market is going for this hard. Between 6PM and 8PM nightly, internet traffic heavily takes a beating from Netflix On Demand, which now includes HD content. Does their “HD” on demand look anywhere near as good as a Blu Ray? Hell No, but as has always been the case, convenience wins out often over quality.

Back to the media devices… The WDTV models now have YouTube and Netflix compatibility, meaning even without a Blu Ray player, you can access the Internet and watch movies and videos like this on your TV via a media player box. There is the APPLE TV for mac lovers and various other similar devices from so many manufacturers.




One of the things people claim prevent the demise of DVD and BLU RAY are the EXTRAS, bonus features, and behind the scenes clips. On this point, I agreed… until this past week. As my recent blog entry told, I loved this film called MONSTER. On the YouTubes, I found a bunch of videos in 720 and 1080 HD definition that could be downloaded via Mozilla Firefox to the MP4 file format, which my HDTV can play flawlessly. I can see it in full high definition on my TV, which means in an entirely file based world; I can have a movie and all the extras.

My prediction for the future is that everything will go file based because at the rapidity of change in file formats, image sizes, and standards, being more computer based will pave the way to handle those better than physical discs that are locked into one size and format. As for “extras”, those will be given away freely online with sites like YouTube or any site where they can be obtained for anyone who does want them, and keep the files on their own hard drive or ported to media players for TV. These bonus features also serve as perpetual EPK’s (Electronic Press Kits), promoting the movie as much as “added value”.

I find I’m moving my WDTV around from my bedroom to my screening room (the man-cave basement) to work. I find that looking at HD content on the computer to the 42” TV versus playing it to the same 42” with the WDTV I can say with a large margin the picture quality of video is substantially better from the media player box. The added surround sound output means that this is the best way to view file based videos.

This is the future. I like discs and I love the “collection” feel, but in 20 years no one will know what a disc is, much like high school kids may not know what a “video tape” is now.

top 5 MAKING OF sites

MAKING OF
http://makingof.com/

Natalie Portman is one of the founders of this site with tons of great EPK videos of behind the scenes kind of things.

ART OF THE TITLE SEQUENCE
http://www.artofthetitle.com/

Art of the Title Sequence has great info and in depth interviews and videos on the title sequences and effects for the coolest opening or closing sequences of film from the earliest days to the latest craze.

SOUNDWORKS COLLECTION
http://soundworkscollection.com/

For sound design, sound mixing, film scores, and all things audio - these videos are amazing and insightful for one of the most under-appreciated aspects of filmmaking - sound.

JOHN AUGUST BLOG
http://johnaugust.com/

John August, the screenwriter behind BIG FISH, GO, and others, shares opinions and ideas.

DREW'S SCRIPTORAMA
http://www.script-o-rama.com/table.shtml

An old classic that still has and adds screenplays, even separating the "transcripts" from the "screenplays", where one is a transcription of what was in the final edit, the other is the WRITER's intent. Great reads, especially if you read unproduced drafts or early drafts of film classics. I still recommend reading THE GREN MILE or SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION for the art of effeciency in screenwriting and description.

a confounded nuisance

Friday night I interviewed a childhood hero, actor Richard Hatch from Battlestar Galactica (both versions). He was doing an acting seminar in Cincinnati and we wanted to do a story for FRAMELINES. He was a really down to earth, nice guy. It turns out we know a few of the same people and that was a nice ice breaker.


As fate would have it, I wrote a part with Richard Hatch specifically in mind for ACCIDENTAL ART, but we’ll see if he’s interested at all or if schedules work out when it comes time to shoot the movie. So many variables can conspire to make these things not work out. I have in mind several genre actors for this very non-genre movie. I love the idea of casting against type. Taking a science fiction or fantasy icon actor and putting them in a dark comedy has the appeal to their acting skills and because most people would only want them to play a variation of their past characters. I know I don’t want to be pigeon-holed into any one genre or style of film, so I can relate to an actor not wanting to only explore one type of character.

The new intern Blog videos seem to be doing well. A lot of people are positively commenting on the various sites. We’re shooting with the Canon T2i DSLR still cameras in 24P. They take about 30 minutes to shoot and a little over an hour to edit, do FX work, and finalize. I have in mind about 5-6 of these total, but we’ll see if there’s continued interest. There would have to be about 1,000 views each for this initial run before I’d consider doing more. Right now, they are purely promotional for the movie and the simple fundraising, as something to do and create that doesn’t take a lot of effort, but has some entertainment value. I am learning something, as in I am doing some very complex compositing work with 3D motion tracking on multiple planes of focus, etc. I am putting the focus on YouTube over Vimeo as an experiment with these.

I re-edited FRAMELINES pilot episode. My original running time was 29:00 minutes and PBS needs 26:46 which meant some serious trims. From feedback at screenings I wanted to add more clips from the films we are discussing, which meant even more interviews being trimmed. I finished and delivered Friday at 4:00PM what I believe is a vastly improved pilot episode. I’m considering some kind of screening or debut of an episode and then highlights in February, which is when we’re now set to premiere the show. It’s been over a year since I did any kind of screening.

Director's Reel

After working on the site and resume, I realized my reel hadn't been updated in over 4 years. This is something I want to do for potential investors as we gear up for fundraising hard core. If they want to see some snippets of my other work in a shorter period of time, this is it. I'd probably also include the entire short RELATIONSHIP CARD as a follow up.

A director's reel is a tool to demonstrate a larger body of work in a short amount of time. You want to put your best foot forward. It's my opinion only, but I like to show some versatility too. I like a broad range of styles and looks, but I wanted to shed the look of my movies from 10 years ago as much as possible. I got rid of most of the work from over 5 years ago.

In the case of this particular reel, I still wanted to show 2 whole scenes to demonstrate storytelling abilities. The two best things I've got are a clip from HORRORS OF WAR, one of the very few things in the movie that I am entirely proud of and now from ACCIDENTAL ART, the short. There are snippets and samplings from various other projects, including my new web series, but that's for another time...

Revamped Revised and Renewed

So I have put a little bit of time into the Sonnyboo.com site again. It’s been a while since I did more than just change a picture or add a screening. In the hopes of putting good will into the world and seeing how much gets returned, I doubled the amount of music for the royalty free music, added some public domain videos, images, and contracts. I have the strictly voluntary donation button for Accidental Art on these pages. Money donated (not invested) from these sites will go towards simple things like the wrap party or screener DVD’s.




I put some real time into updating things like the images to HD (1920x1080) and adding new videos that will be useful. Fonts bundled together for filmmakers along with new storyboard templates et al will help a lot of people out. I found in the past that tossing this good will into the universe tended to see it come back, so I want to get back to doing more things like this.

In preparing for this marketing push, I realized many aspects of the Sonnyboo.com site have not been touched in years. My resume didn’t even include directing HORRORS OF WAR in 2005 or anything at all after that. I’ve consolidated a list of all the awards I’ve accumulated over the years and it sits at 16 total, excluding the award for special FX or acting, which are not awards for me specifically. All this resume stuff lead me to look at my Director’s Reel, which has not been updated in 2006, so that’s sadly missing my better work. I’ve tried to work on that for 2 days in a row but there is no time and I do not edit at home anymore.



In the last few years, I have not marketed myself or the work as much as I used to. Partly, because I have a life and enjoy spending time with my girlfriend and cats, but also because work and other projects take a lot more of my time away from those kinds of endeavors. In looking at the stats, the Sonnyboo.com site had dwindled in popularity. Of course, I had not been making as many movies, but in the intervening years, sites like YouTubeand Vimeo are dominating the way people see videos online, but I didn’t miss that boat, as my views on YouTube continue to skyrocket into the tens of thousands on some of them (not merely dozens on the others).

I also noticed I had not updated the pages for the older short films. They still link to outdated sites that don’t exist, but also they haven’t been touched in years so they do not have the embedded videos from the other sites. I’m still only halfway through updating these pages for individual movies. It’s going to save me a ton of bandwidth by deleting the video files on my pages and having the movie sites take the hit on downloads. Vimeo is my preferred site, but YouTube is not to be underestimated.


So I added VIDEOS, CONTRACTS, PRODUCTION PAPERWORK, STORYBOARD TEMPLATES, IMAGES, DVD/BLU RAY INSERTS, FONTS, doubled the FREE MUSIC , and a bit more, all in the name of shameless self promotion that helps other people a lot more than it does me. If it helps Accidental Art get a little extra, then it’s all worth it.

Arithmetic & Budgeting For Film

As the script revisions finish, the business plan and budgeting has begun for the next feature film. Since I was a broker, I have some idea how to write for the people with money. It’s never easy and it’s never fun, but I have a knack for knowing numbers. What’s odd is that most filmmakers are terrible with numbers. I’ve seen people throw out numbers and budgets as if they had a clue where that money goes or what it’s for when they clearly do not. Anyone who randomly says, “I could make 5 feature films for $100,000.00” clearly doesn’t know how to budget a movie.

A lot of people hear about El Mariachi for $7,000 or Clerks for $27,000 (rounded up from the actual $26965.00). Or the generic budgets of $1 Million for an indie film and they just turn into parrots repeating numbers they heard vaguely somewhere or they just pick a budget amount from a random group of numbers without doing any kind of break down.

For people who intend to make a feature film for under $10,000 some harsh realities have to kick in. It’s possible to make “a” movie for that, but its profitability is limited to similarly low amounts. The price you pay is a crew that is all volunteer and mostly inexperienced. There’s nothing wrong with this model and business plan, but it’s not for me and most people are deluding themselves into thinking they have the next indie feature hit film like PARANORMAL ACTIVITY.

The problem is when people have such a low amount of money to play with, like $10K and think that everyone will get paid at least something. This is unrealistic.

Here's a line item on MEALS alone....

$6 per meal x 20 cast/crew x 3 meals a day x 15 DAYS shooting schedule = $5,400

That's a combined cast and crew of 20. Add some extras and your costs start to go up a lot. Add more shooting days, price goes up. This does not include craft services either, as having food and drinks available all day is the least you can do for a free or cheaply paid crew. That $6 per meal includes beverages. Making that stretch and not buying pizza for every single meal is the art of a good caterer and there are some that specialize in film and video shoots.

Let's look at a basement low pay rate for crew. Let's say you are going to have 8 crew people.

$50 a day x 8 crew people x 15 days = $6,000

I don't even want to know how much experience your grip has if they can afford to work for $50 a day. I randomly chose 8 positions, some will cost more and in some cases, you might need more people, or less people at a higher rate. Most professionals start at about $200-$300 a day, and a good D.P. or sound person will be higher, especially if they are bringing their own gear to the production.

Right now, you are already over budget by $1,400 of your $10,000 budget and this is paying peanuts to the crew and nothing to the cast and feeding everyone for meals during the shoot. This amount does not include any money for tape stock, editing, on set special effects, stunts, props, sets, location fees, transportation, hotels, equipment rental, post production, editing, sound, deliverables, E&O insurance, Production insurance, contingency, batteries, walkie talkies, printing of scripts, printing of call sheets, production reports, taxes, and the few hundred other expenses that come with making a movie.

My advice to anyone starting out making movies or moving from short films to a feature film is to get out a calculator and work out some very basic numbers with arithmetic before spouting any potential budget ranges. Everyone wants to focus on the “art” and not worry about the costs. If you want someone’s money, you will start having to worry about the costs, or you will have to get money and hire a PRODUCER to worry about the costs for you. If you only have $10,000 – congratulations Mr. Director, you are also your own Producer.

That leads to another topic for another time….

The Pudency of the Pariah

I am attempting something. I’ve taken quite a bit of time off from promoting myself, the Sonnyboo.com site, and the free things I have for filmmakers. As we gear up for fundraising for ACCIDENTAL ART as a feature, it seems like a good time to spread some love, put out the good karma and hope it comes back.

I doubled the number of songs from 20 to 40. I think 8-9 years ago when I first put some songs out there, I held back a few things for sentimental reasons. Even though several of the songs out there were personal favorites, most of the songs were throwaways. I have become so disinterested in anything I did in music that nothing is sacred or worth keeping to myself, so I uploaded 20 more songs that either had quality (a relative term when referring to anything I did in music), or just might be in a genre of music useful to people no matter how much the sound or composition sucked.

I’ve added some new images, now adding HD sized (1920x1080) FBI warnings, film festival laurel leaves, etc. For video, I only had a countdown leader, because AVID users didn’t get one with their software and everyone else did. It’s still standard definition. Now I’ve thrown together 4-5 new HD videos of things too.

I think helping people is essential. I have to do it in the broad strokes because my time is not my own anymore. It’s important to pay back to the world for what help and good has come to you. I want to help others and I will need help in the future. Helping others first, and knowing full well that it’s a 1,000 to 1 help back ratio (if I’m lucky). The most I’m doing is putting the links for donations for INDIE GOGO and KICKSTARTER. Anyone can download for free and some want to give something back.

I’ve barely started letting anyone know about the site re-vamp and we’ve already gotten in $50 in donations. It’s a “soft opening” and pseudo beta testing. I’m finding more new things to add, re-arrange, tinker, and poke at the site. I’ve done some new designs and looks, and even this blog might get a little new look soon.

I felt like making a silly action movie style promo and here it is.

Lamenting the Lascivious and Lucidity of Certain Ladies

Ah my droogies, your faithful narrator has been more than a bit busy. Between fundraising for the next feature film (which has already gotten us some decent cash on INDIE GO GO.COM, and shooting a new short in series of shorts, and plus shooting for the PBS shows things are non-stop. Combine the day job work and me is tired.



So I got to work with the Canon 5D Mark II with Greg Sabo. It was a really gorgeous look with this DSLR. It has some minor limitations, but for shorts and quick things, it can be staggeringly impressive. Low light, shallow depth of field and portability… the DLSR craze is very much justified. I immediately converted the footage to a low compression, high quality codec for editing. It will maintain quality better in color correction and effects this way.



Alex the Intern has already done an edit pass on the latest short opus, but it needs some magic, as in the Twitch type magic to make this one shine. I can’t even think about getting to it until next week some time because our annual big editing project came in and I’m ensconced in the trenches of my edit bay toiling away for longer stretches of the day. It’s something basic, but will be pretty cool when it’s done; Might take a while if I get some good sound design, sound mix.



I feel really really good about the ACCIDENTAL ART feature script. It’s in the prime shape to get made. There are going to be some tweaks, etc. when it comes time to shoot it, but I’ve gotten some feedback, etc. and this looks to be the one. If… scratch that… WHEN I get to make this, the movie will be the one I was meant to make. It’s got more of my personal tastes in it that something like HORRORS OF WAR. I’ve been honing the skills to make this movie for the last 10 years. This will be the best movie I can make at this point in my life and career.



I’ve made a momentous decision in regards to this. If this movie does not do for me and my career that I intend it to, then I will no longer pursue being a feature film director. I’ll still make movies, shorts, TV shows, etc. but if ACCIDENTAL ART doesn’t do it, then I’m going to change directions in my career path and my life. I want to focus on things with a certain amount of stability and raise my responsibility. I have made many sacrifices to live the life I’ve lived and to do what I have been doing. I’ve reached the end of this rope, and if this movie doesn’t take me to the next plateau, then I don’t think I have the movie in me to ever be made that will.

That’s it for now. There are people reading this blog that talk smack about me and this is all I feel like divulging for now. More is happening on all fronts, but actual friends know how to get in touch with me.

Kubrick’s Kinetic Kinescope!

As I trudge throw my stack of books to read, I should not go near a Half Priced Books ™. If my car drives by, the money flies out the window and into a register. I picked up 5 new books, one of which is about the master, Stanley Kubrick. Now I love me some Kubrick movies, but there are all kinds of myths about him as a person. This was a book written by the screenwriter of EYES WIDE SHUT.



This book stirred some controversy because it was hurriedly published right after Stanley’s death in 1999. Kubrick’s family immediately denounced the writings as playing up all of Stanley’s eccentricities while downplaying his normalcy. In the documentary his family put out, they went to great lengths to portray Stanley Kubrick as a normal person, which he was for the most part. He was obsessive-compulsive, perhaps even clinically so, but he was not a freak of nature.



The book paints the screenwriter as more of an ass than it does Kubrick as anything other than a very controlling director…. As if no one could have guessed that before reading the book. I like hearing Kubrick’s voice. I have obtained his screenplay draft of NAPOLEAN, something I still haven’t read yet. I also got FEAR AND DESIRE, his first feature, and some of his early documentary work. Fantastic stuff. Stanley had a great eye. His still photography from LOOK magazine blows away a lot of people’s lifelong pursuits in stills.

One of the things in this book that’s great is reading how much he loved PULP FICTION and Quentin Tarantino. I don’t know if Q ever knew this, but I’m sure he’s heard this. Kubrick was also very competitive with his contemporaries, but by the 1990’s, very few of them were making movies. He never considered someone like Francis Ford Coppola, Steven Spielberg, or George Lucas as “competition” because they were still young upstarts, but they also worshipped Stanley from before they were in Film School; he liked that, obviously.

As a kind of “answer” to this book, I had already read Michael Herr’s book on his experience writing a screenplay with Stanley. It was far kinder than the current book’s view. Still, Michael Herr based FULL METAL JACKET on his own experiences, plus he had already worked as a writer on APOCOLYPSE
NOW.

Anyways, I do like reading anything about Kubrick. It’s interesting to see his world from various people’s points of view.

48 Fastidious Predilictions

For this year’s 48 Hour Film Project in Columbus Ohio, yet again I did not get involved in making a movie, but I did participate in a way. We are doing an episode of FRAMELINES about the project. So I personally followed 3 teams stopping in on the three phases, scriptwriting to production to editing. Scott followed another 3 teams.

What did I see? You’ll have to watch the episode to find out. The greatest thing about documenting is that it doesn’t matter what their movie is like because we’re solely about finding an interesting story about making a movie. The most interesting subjects may not make the most interesting movie. There are many characters in the film community, so we were able to get in on some of their creative processes.

While shooting for the show, Scott actually fully JOINED a team that needed help. Of course, when you know Scott and how inoffensive he is and that he helped Sam and Sean’s team, two of the nicest guys, no one will go “boo” about this. If it had been me however, I’m certain it would have been the controversy of the year, but alas, I do not give a Shiite about such things. If I was a cameraman and I was covering Katrina disasters, I’d drop my damn camera and pull people into the boat. Scott did the right thing.

The 48 Hour Film Project has become something really special here. The friendly competition inspires a lot of razzing, but also support. Shane Howard drove his lights to Sam Javor’s team on Sunday to help a competitor’s team make their deadline. That’s classy.



Coolest thing I saw? An iPad Slate that worked like a real slate, but with digital entries. Kinda cool, I have to admit. Other than that, over 75% of the movies were shot with the new DLSR still cameras that shoot video. This new trend is indicative of the new movement of “digital”, where they are no longer calling it “video” because there is no tape involved.

Facebook is alive with pictures from everyone’s projects. Congrats to all, it looks like another great year of movies.

The Kubrickian Phase

For a little over two years I’ve been struggling with how it feels to be liked and hated with such intensity, and usually by strangers. I tried to say I didn’t care, but I obviously did. Looking over blogs of the past few years, since I’ve been blogging a journal for 6 years or so, you can clearly see someone who cared a lot what other people thought of himself. Things have changed though.

I can say in all honesty I don’t care anymore. I’m going to do what I do. I’m not interested in how other people will think about me. I do have an interest in how they feel about the work, as in my film work, but I won’t spend any of my time thinking about how people feel about me. It’s not my job to try to convince anyone to like or not like me or to change their minds about who or what I am.

If someone wants to buy into the mythology and rumors of days long gone or even the wild interpretations of my motives for doing things, I cannot be held responsible, nor do I have any need to change their mind or work to convince them of anything.

I have found a peace that I have not known in my life. I am uninvolved in most of the dramas in my film community. I tend to leave my laptop at work even on weekends just to get away from filmmaking as an all consuming thing. I want to live something more of a life, so I’ve taken up bowling for fun. I love it, even though it is minimalist physical activity; that is still an increase for me. I take little interest in what other people do or don’t do, as it has no affect on me.

All I want to do now is more work. How other people want to perceive me is none of my business quite frankly. I’m not going to go to many MOFA (Mid Ohio Filmmakers Association) meetings anymore. I’m getting plenty of social outlets and I don’t feel my physical presence will do much, as in I see the people I want to see whenever I want to anyways.



I’ve entered what I am calling my “Kubrickian Phase”, which is not to do with comparing myself to the master himself, as it is that I don’t want to be in the public much and I’ve clearly changed my output of work to be more about quality than quantity. No, I do not think everything I’ve made is golden. Some of my movies are quite bad actually, but I’m okay with that. Those are what I made at a certain point in time and with whatever skills I had at that moment. I won’t abandon these pieces as if they didn’t exist, but I intend to improve and make better films. I drew a line in the sand and I want my work to be better than what I made in the past.

In the near future, some of my new projects will start to go public. There are three separate TV series in the works, all with broadcast outlets. The first one, a short film compilation show that I am calling LOOK AT MY SHORTS TV will probably hit first. Already, I have enough material for 6 of my first 13 episodes of one hour shows. Within the first 24 hours of making a call for entries, I got several options of expanding the show from 4 cable markets in Ohio to several more states and several more prestigious copyright holders of short films contacted me about submitting their catalogs.



The other two shows need more gestation before I announce anything, but along with TV, I have come up with another idea that I’m going to move on sooner. I wanted to do something with actors where I can help promote some of the better acting talent we have in Columbus and an anthology idea occurred that came together in no time. I’m still selecting the other directors and working with writers on the scripts, but this seems like another project that will be popular one it gets finished later this summer.

So, in the end, I am busy. I have my nose to the ground and I’m doing work. A lot of my vices are dwindling away and all that is left is a desire to do better work and to live a little outside of movies.

‘S’allright.

- Ross

Rare Film Books

I love books on filmmaking. I devour a few books a month on the topic. Half Price Books and Amazon.com used are my new best friends. I can find rare and hard to find books for next to nothing. This week I’m getting two used books that I’m looking most forward to.



First on deck is ALIENS THE ILLUSTRATED SCREENPLAY. Talk about rare, this was released in the 1980’s and only in the UK. James Cameron’s opus, often forgotten that it’s his because it’s part of someone else’s SciFi series. Storyboards and concept art along with the shooting script in full color; I can’t want to have this one to my collection. I love illustrated screenplays. There’s a new ALIEN ILLUSTRATED SCREENPLAY from 2002 from the UK that I’ll try to acquire next, but it’s still a little too high a price for me.



Speaking of which, a rarity I may never be able to afford is THE ILLUSTRATED BLADE RUNNER with a ton of “Ridleygrams”, thumbnail sketches by the director himself. As well as some Syd Mead graphic design essentials and this is a book that sells used in crappy condition for over $300. I still want it for my favorite film of all time, as I have most of the other books regarding this film.



My 2nd purchase this week came via discovering it even existed by seeing it on Phil’s shelf in his office, as our filmmaking book library is very similar with a lot of the same titles. I fell in love with the Wachowski’s V FOR VENDETTA adaptation of the graphic novel. I had no idea there was even a book covering “from script to screen” for this. Since I watch this movie at least twice a year, I figured I would thoroughly enjoy a book on the making of the movie.



Another hard to find essential reading is another UK only publication. I love my 2 copies of Robert Rodriguez’s REBEL WITHOUT A CREW, but in less than 2 years after its publication, he wrote another book about the making of his 2nd, even harder to find film, ROADRACERS, a Showtime original feature for cable. His book “ROADRACERS : THE MAKING OF A DEGENERATE HOT ROD FLICK” sells also north of the $300 mark and is well sought after being that it was only published in the UK. I know I’ve wanted to read it just to see more about the process of someone’s SECOND feature after having done the first on indie, with a then unknown Salma Hayek. In theory, it should be a fascinating read, but I might never know as the price is extremely high.



And my final rare book mention is the non-fiction book FAST TIMES AT RIDGMONT HIGH by Cameron Crowe. Yes, he is a filmmaker and he wrote the screenplay to the movie, but this book is an expansion of an undercover article he wrote for Rolling Stone that the film and book are based on. Cameron Crowe, at 29 years old, could still easily pass for a high school student and he did research for this article and eventual book for several months. This one goes for $50 on paperback or so because it never got reprinted. I saw a physical copy for sale at a rare book store and that’s the closest I’ve ever gotten to reading it.



I love my MAKING OF STAR WARS coffee table book. Some reviewer sold their copy here in Ohio on Amazon and I snagged it for only a few dollars and it was a $75 hard cover. This fall the comprehensive MAKING OF EMPIRE STRIKES BACK is due out to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the release of that film. Hopefully I can get this new book on another bargain hunt.

R.I.P. Hollywood Video

The home video store chain HOLLYWOOD VIDEO just went under. The death toll must be ringing for BLOCKBUSTER VIDEO soon. This is not good news for the independent filmmaker. The business model of the video store has been decimated by the mail order DVD service like NETFLIX and video on demand services, also NETFLIX and AMAZON.COM. What that means to the indie filmmaker is that one of our biggest revenue sources has just faded away into dust.



In the late 1970’s VHS (and the Sony Betamax format) started to bloom. It was close to $1,000 for a player (not even recorder) and to buy a tape of a Hollywood movie title was $79-$100. Within a few years, a crop of home video rental stores opened on every street corner, especially in small towns.

As years went on, VHS decks dropped in price to under $30 each. VHS saturated the market until 98% of the homes in the U.S. had a VHS deck and more than 75% had more than one.

The studios and the home video market had a great deal for almost 20 years. A movie gets released initially for $100-$120 per tape, but it’s not made available to retailers just yet; only to home video stores for rental for about 6 months exclusively. After that, the tapes are released to retailers for $15-$20 and also to cable TV.

There were thousands of video rental stores in the 1980’s and 1990’s. Because of the $100 per tape cost of the Hollywood big titles, they would need to fill their shelves, so they also needed more new content on shelves when the big movies were rented out. This created the DIRECT TO VIDEO business. Movie that were made, never intended for movie theaters, just filling shelves at video stores and also might wind up on Cinemax at 1:00AM.

In the early 1990’s the “indie film” boom started to happen. With SEX LIES AND VIDEOTAPE, RESERVOIR DOGS, EL MARIACHI, CLERKS, SLACKER, BROTHERS MCMULLEN, and all the movies that created this new market for finding unknown talent, there was a new influx of material on the market. A whole new aisle appeared with a new type of movie that was floated by the need for content at stores and press to hype these movies. It was making so much money for these small businesses; it was doomed to be incorporated.



Companies like BLOCKBUSTER, WEST COAST VIDEO, and HOLLYWOOD VIDEO started to gobble up the profitability of the mom & pop independent companies. Similarly, megastores like Wal-Mart and Best Buy started to specialize in movies.

Then DVD entered the scene. In order to crack the VHS nut, DVD’s started the day and date release and pricing. When the movie was first released on VHS, there was no exclusivity for DVD, so the lower priced retail DVD was put out at the same time as the rental. Mathematically, if you watched the movie more than twice, it was the same price to rent it twice as it was to buy the movie. Rental costs went up, retail prices went down. This started the demise of the home video market.

Enter NETFLIX and the mail order movie rentals. You have one small hub covering a large area, with one bulk price for the rentals. Also, AMAZON.COM is the retail version of this. They don’t need to have a lot of copies in stock of no-name movies, and because there is less demand for those titles, they need even less copies than the retail rental stores.

This is how independent filmmakers got boned. In the old business model, we could sell 1 single copy of our movie to tens of thousands of stores and make a profit. Now with Netflix, Amazon.com, and even Best Buy and Wal-Mart going to online retailing, they only buy literally tens of copies of a movie without name stars or a theatrical release. They have made the system more efficient and put a lot of people out of jobs and films without an audience.

The current home video market as it stands in 2010 is simply an extension of big business Hollywood movies. Why spare the shelf space with 10 alternate titles when you could have 10 more copies of the latest Hannah Montana movie? The reality is, they make more money this new way. It’s no different than the megaplex theaters. They have 30 screens, all the more to show the latest comic book adaptation on more screens, not offer more choices. It makes them more money, so why change it?

Sure, we can sell our own movies on AMAZON.COM or stream them as pay per view on YOUTUBE now, but without the big corporate marketing machine, unless the girls are very pretty and wearing very little, the profit numbers are still no where near the industry as it was in the 1980’s and 1990’s.

This is all going to spin the popular culture cycle back to 1994 again when the public gets sick of regurgitated swill and TV show remakes. Everything is cyclical and the desire to see something alternative and the profitability of the independent film will return. But when?

It gives me hope to see something like THE RAVEN. A posh, amazing looking movie that I found more entertaining (and technically better in many ways) than the last 3 seasons of HEROES on NBC, with better effects work too. Done for under $5,000 to boot. What the studios and networks are churning out and what an indie can create has narrowed.



I have no idea what the next big independent surge will be. I don’t know what the new business model will be. All I know is that the old ones are dead in the water and have no chance at survival.

James Cameron at Ohio State

Ohio State University often has brought in some killer names in film, from Richard Linklater in 2000, to Spike Lee, Kevin Smith, and Gus Van Zant, to last night’s epic James Cameron speaking engagement. This is supposedly James Cameron’s first college lecture.
I was early, but I didn’t sit in the long line per se. I sat in a comfy chair at the brand new Ohio Union. I still managed initially to get in the 2nd row of the auditorium, but saw an opening for a single seat in the front row, 3rd chair, so I snagged it, one of the benefits of being there alone. Phil teaches at OSU, but couldn’t go so I adopted his ticket to the event that was for OSU students and faculty only. Aside from a crazy lady who shouted out compliments, I was the only person under 25 in the entire room of over 1,000 students.

Because I am an Über fan of James Cameron the filmmaker, this was significant for me. Because I am an avid reader, I have read or seen most of his interviews before. Sadly, this made nothing he said remotely new information for me, but it was still stirring to hear them live, a mere 18 feet away.



For those not in the know, James Cameron was a geeky kid from rural Canada. He graduated college and worked as a truck driver in Orange County, near LA. Because he could not afford grad school in filmmaking, he would spend his Saturday’s in the library at the University of Southern California’s film department, reading and copying all the chapters and books that the students had in their curriculum. Once he had amassed a great deal of knowledge for basically free, he formed a group of friends that made short films.

He was bitten by the filmmaking bug and couldn’t look back. James Cameron quit driving the truck and took a job doing FX work for Roger Corman. He started on DARK BETWEEN THE STARS doing rear projection, which is projecting the model FX work while the actors are standing in front of it. It’s a great way to integrate actors and FX in that old school technique. In a twist (that he did not mention last night) he was the main FX guy on ESCAPE FORM NEW YORK (1981) and did several of their trick shots including the fake computer graphics of Manhattan in the glider and the World Trade Center skyline painted on a sheet of glass in front of the camera for a shot or two.

Also not mentioned last night was how he got his first directing gig. When doing FX on another low budget Roger Corman production, James Cameron was doing 2nd unit directing of some close ups of these worms. They weren’t moving the way he wanted, so he got a large battery and some wires, wet the worms down, and then connected some wires to them until they wriggled for the camera. Someone watching was so impressed; they hired him to direct his first feature film, PIRANNA II THE SPAWNING. For some reason, last night James Cameron lied to the audience and said that the first film he directed was THE TERMINATOR.

Now I understand PIRANNA II THE SPAWNING is not exactly a movie he wants to remember, but it made a few important impressions that would affect his career. Number one, it introduced him to actor Lance Henrickson, who was originally cast to play THE TERMINATOR before Arnold lobbied for the part. Number two, he was locked out of the editing room and the movie was released without his edit and James Cameron vowed, and never did ever lose his final cut ever again. A certain control and tenacity was born from his experience making this horrid movie. Cameron should not pretend it doesn’t exist, even if he hates it.



A lot of this, except where noted, James Cameron covered in his prepared speech to the students. He was enthusiastic and passionate. His history of pushing CGI to the limits in THE ABYSS and TERMINATOR 2 lead to his explaining his desire to work on AVATAR in 1995 but the CGI just wasn’t ready.

Two things stood out to me last night. First was how James Cameron explained that on the documentary projects he worked on after TITANIC, he learned better social skills. This is shocking to me because he is notoriously brutal on actors and crew. The mythology speaks of him throwing a chair at a camera operator on TITANIC. In the 60+ minute documentary on making THE ABYSS, James Cameron is pretty abrasive, and that’s when he knew a camera was on him. I can’t fathom the thought of what he was like when the behind the scenes camera WASN’T running. He said he experienced the camaraderie on AVATAR that he always heard about from other people’s movies.

From there JC was getting surprisingly tree huggy in explaining his motives and interests in global warming and the rain forests. Considering how this guy once reveled in getting an extreme liberal like Sigorny Weaver to fire an automatic weapon for ALIENS, he sounded more like Al Gore than his buddy Governor Arnold.

So in the end, I didn’t find out much new, but it was still a great experience. I think it’s truly amazing the way the Ohio State University does things like bring in world class filmmakers to talk to the students. People think you have to be an NYU or USC to get to hear people like James Cameron speak. Those people are idiots.

Legal Wranglings

I’m a bit conflicted. I keep finding some of my videos on YouTube and other sites, but uploaded by other people. I’m starting to ask them to take them down for copyright violation. On one hand it’s kinda cool that someone liked something I made enough to upload it and share it (especially when they are getting more hits for it than me), but it’s also a bit weird to have someone else receiving credit for my work. That bothers me a bit.

For the HOW TO DEAL WITH TELEMARKETERS videos, I find those all over the Internet as uploaded by other people. Now a bunch of other videos of mine are spreading out. Most of them leave in the credits so my name is still all over them, but it’s still kinda bothersome. I’m not that much of a control freak that I absolutely HAVE to be in charge of every way my movies are presented and where, etc. but when I have no say whatsoever and people are commenting on these clips as if the uploader make the videos, then I start to get squirrelly. I think I will adopt a policy of once a month seeking out my clips as uploaded by other people and having them taken down.

Gooey Karmic Goodness

Sometimes I do things that some might consider generous. I put together film festivals, or I offer a place to edit, or I loan out some gear that might help someone else. Most of the time, these kinds of favors are not directly repaid, but I am not expecting them to be. I throw it out to Karma to see if the universe will pay it back in some way. Sometimes it does…

I cast a net into the world. I needed a dub to HDCAM, the rare and expensive Sony High Definition tape format. Very few places in Columbus have this $60,000 deck. The ones that do want to charge a very high rate to dub to it (about $250 for a 6 minute short… kind pricey).

When I screen ACCIDENTAL ART in Beverly Hills at the Film Festival, I want it to look it’s best, but cost to return analysis says $250 is too much, but I really feel it is important to put a best foot forward on this. So I checked with Bryan Michael Block, actor extraordinaire, but also connected to the higher end of commercial production around town. He pointed me to Ben Bays who did the Horsemen short, and he was able to help me out. I showed his AIDAN 5 project at Cowtown and he was more than willing to give back a little by helping a brother out on price.



I am so grateful for the return of support and help. Doing things for other people often turns to regret when those people aren’t there for you, but then on occasion with something as important as this, it comes back when you need it the most. These guys are classy and cool and I appreciate this more than I can ever type.

Then there are those who feel they can take advantage of your generosity. This is a misunderstanding, mostly on their part. There are people who walk all over me and I continue to offer them help. They feel that I am either stupid, ignorant, or that they have successfully pulled the wool over my eyes. This isn’t true. What they don’t grasp is that I am a good person, regardless of how many times they take advantage of me. I know what they really are like, I’m not stupid. I am generous regardless of what kind of selfish bastards they are. It’s not about them; it’s about doing good things no matter what.

Although I do have my limits…

Big congrats to ACCIDENTAL ART D.P. GREG SABO of SABOSTUDIOS for his camera work making it on national television with this week’s episode of UNDERCOVER BOSS on CBS. That rocks so much. A local guy getting his work on network television is a score. Rock on Greg!

Here is a trailer for ACCIDENTAL ART. I’m not at all a fan of trailers for a short. Seems kinda silly to me, but they wanted it for this film festival, so I made this.

Accidental Art TEASER TRAILER from Peter John Ross on Vimeo.

A Postponement of Scintillation

Time glides by a little too fast these days. It’s already March. I’m barely over 2 weeks away from the big show in Beverly Hills. I’m behind on my preparations. I have much to do. I have plans within plans, all whittling away at the future. We’ll see what can be done.

One of the cool things about a Film Festival Strategy is the FREE INVITE. I had not dared hope to think I’d be in that boat, but already, 2 new invites for submission to other film festivals have come (and have subsequently been mailed out). Once you’re in at a few choice festivals, if a programmer from another festival sees it, they will invite your movie to play at their festival, and usually waive the entry fees. That’s how a lot of movies rack up the big time laurel leaves on their DVD boxes and websites.



I’m hoping now for more invitations because Film Festival Entry Fees have increased from about $25 for shorts 10 years ago to $50 each. That’s kinda pricy, if you ask me. I’ve been curbing my paid film festivals in the last few weeks, gearing up for the trip and other financial concerns. I might even sell my beloved Canon HV20. I don’t use it the way I intended. My standards are too high for what it does and even for BEHIND THE SCENES, I’m wanting a different quality. I love the 24P and 1080, but realistically, I’m shooting things with a higher standard, not this, so away the HV20 must go, my most beloved little camcorder.



I have several reformat, reinstalls of software going on for both work and personal. At least once a year I recommend cleaning off the hard drives with a fresh install of the Operating System and a re-install of the software that you use the most. Having a lot of junk on the machine slows down the processing and with video editing, processing is EVERYTHING. I like a smooth, easy to use Video Editing Computer, not a sluggish, unhappy, crashing-with-the-blue-screen-of-death type machine, even if that means pre-emptive format-reinstalls.

Have a good one everyone, Happy March

- PJR