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.

A Sedulous Artifice

My long dormancy will soon end. I’m about to embark on several projects and all of them have their individual challenges. I hate that word “challenges”, at least the way it has replaced the word “problems”. Regardless, your faithful narrator has a full plate and none too soon.

First on deck, finishing a TV show pilot I’ve been working on just nigh of two years. Scott Spears and I have been tinkering with this show and idea for so long, and we’ve already shot a bunch of segments, but we have no edited a single one. I was unmotivated because the anchor to the show could not be shot whilst we had a giant kitchen set in our studio. Now that this monstrosity has finally been removed; it wasn’t even 30 minutes later I started booking crew for the shoot. We’re going to do a 4 camera studio shoot and I’ll do the camera switching in post because software allows a great multicam edit function.



Simultaneously, I will be putting together two separate TV shows for a different network and I will need to shoot some intros and start to gather up content. If you have a short film, or preferably several short films, that you want to show on TV, by all means drop me a line and let me know. These will have to be broadcast TV friendly, so no bad words, no nudity, and nothing that sucks. Given that there are many good shorts over 20 minutes; I’ll even be seeking those too. Exposure is always a good thing. So if you’re interested in getting your movie seen, let me know. I’m going to ask several of the more attractive actresses to host this show in my stead.

Similarly, I want to finish out the CREW JOB DESCRIPTION videos I started. I have several more to shoot. Again, I’m going to find some pretty girls to be on camera instead of me. That tends to make more people watch them. I don’t really care if technicians get upset, as they aren’t trained to say lines and no one actually wants to see them on screen. The target is people who have never made a movie before, so why people with experience care is beyond me.

Then there is an outlet for feature films too. I’m going to be editing some features I have access too for broadcast. Again, no money, but with proper work, an ambitious filmmaker could make the opportunity something more. Print press and something to use to entice a buyer that is what people who want to work their projects can do. I’ll be on-camera talent for this show, which I don’t particularly like, but I’m cheap and available.



My personal exposure is about to go up. I was not looking to get more in the public eye much. In fact, I wanted the opposite. I’ve entered my self-imposed Kubrickian phase. I want to focus on quality, not quantity. I’ve already done a lot of shorts and even worked a few features. My desire at this point is to make things that I am proud of and that exceed what I have done in the past, at least in my own opinion. These projects are more side projects.

I felt I needed to warm back up. I shot ACCIDENTAL ART in late August and have not shot anything since. As a director, I need to stay in shape. Before I embark on another big shoot, I want to scrimmage a little. I have come up with a mini-web project that suits this need. I am deciding how to put it together as a whole, but I think I can show off some of our local acting talent in a short form that is simple to make, but elegant in its execution.

After these enormous targets, I have to decide if I want to make an ambitious short film or proceed with my next feature film. There are benefits and downsides to either choice, but so far, there is no clear path. At least I can be distracted by many weeks of hard work and organization with these other projects before I have t make a decision…

Peace and goodwill towards men and women and cats.

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.

Film Score and Dedication

One of the most simple, yet effective ideas in a score was exemplified in the LETHAL WEAPON scores, primarily by Michael Kamen with Eric Clapton on guitar and David Sanborn on saxophone. What made the themes and melodies ingenious was not the brilliant musicians, but the concept of having the guitar and melody represent RIGGS (Mel Gibson’s character) and the saxophone represent ROGER (Danny Glover’s character). Each had a distinctive melody and instrumentation for their differing characters, and when they come together in the story, the melodies and instruments complement each other perfectly.



This continued on into the other 3 sequels to the movie with similar degrees of success. For LETHAL WEAPON 2, a more jazzy form of the melody worked because the character of RIGGS was taken in by the family. In LETHAL WEAPON 3 a more acoustic approach, both because of Eric Clapton’s affectation with the acoustic sound at that time, as well as a softer, more romantic RIGGS in the story worked in favor of the film. I don’t recall anything about LETHAL WEAPON 4 except Jet Li played a bad guy and not one note of music is in my head from that one. Sorry.



The composer, Michael Kamen, was never one of my favorites, even though he was the composer for such films as DIE HARD (1-3), ROBIN HOOD PRINCE OF THIEVES, X-MEN, THREE MUSKETEERS, and more. The only original score of his that stood out to me was to DON JUAN DEMARCO. It was his most unique and original score to me, with depths of emotion resonating. I initially hated the Bryan Adams song “Have you ever loved a woman”, but upon hearing it in context with the movie, I loved it and the score.



Michael Kamen was considered the “Rock-N-Roll” orchestrator. He started with the album PINK FLOYD’S THE WALL and went on to work with Aerosmith, Queensryche, Queen (for soundtracks to FLASH GORDON and HIGHLANDER), David Bowie, Rush, Def Leppard, Metallica and of course Sting. To me he was great at arranging, but his weakness was melodies, but when a rock star provided him with a great melody, he found endless ways to reinvent that and orchestrate it.

The Lethal Weapon soundtracks re-iterate this theory. Eric Clapton and David Sanborn provided Michael Kamen with amazing melodies that he created a wonderful series of film scores to; they supported the film, the characters, and made something good into something great. That’s what an original score should do.

Michael Kamen died in 2003.

I started off as a musician. All I wanted to do from the time I was 5 years old was write music for movies. Now, the idea of working on music does not appeal to me in the slightest. In my efforts though, I do get to work with composers and musicians on the soundtracks to my own movies.

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.

A Sagacious Conscript

Today I was the guest speaker at the Upper Arlington High School’s film class. The teacher invited me to speak to the kids and do a demo. I made up a DVD of things to show and went on in.

Last week I had issued a press release about getting ACCIDENTAL ART into the Beverly Hills Shorts Film Festival and one of the newspapers sent out a reporter to follow me to the class and do the interview right after. Then a photographer came up to our studio to do some pictures for the article.

I showed the trailer for HORRORS OF WAR, and then claimed “This is a movie that will never win an Oscar ™”. Next I showed one of the webdocs on ADR. I passed around the DVD covers from around the world.

I was asked about my opinion of the future of cinema and I said that 3D will make a huge dent in things because AVATAR made so much money. Studio execs that are no inherently creative people see AVATAR in 3D = $$$, so expect a lot more movies to go spectacle and 3D in the hopes of generating more money and less soul. I also think YouTube, Cable TV channels, Internet, Video on Demand, and multimedia are merging into one single entity at some point. How to make money at it is a largely undiscovered realm so far.

I like teaching. I enjoy sharing what I know. So many of my peers view it as creating competition or something they would never do for free without being paid, but I do it because I love it.

Why do I get invited to do these things? What makes me the focal point of such requests? Why would someone want me to talk about filmmaking to kids?

I have no idea. If you are reading this and you feel I do not warrant such requests, then let the schools know and let them know why you would be more qualified or at the least why you feel I am NOT qualified. I didn’t solicit these kinds of speaking events. They fall into my lap and I do think I have something to offer, but it’s neither better or worse than anyone else.

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

Effulgent Git

Accidental Art is now also an Official Selection to the GULF FILM FESTIVAL in Dubai, as in United Arab Emirates. In April, this little movie will have its first international screening. There’s even a chance they might pay yours truly to once again visit the Middle East. I miss the desert, the sun, and the sand. I suspect I might get even more international selections to festivals as the months come, but you never really know.



I saw another local feature film on the big screen yesterday. BEST SUPPORTING DADDY from Mark Cummings, a Columbus filmmaker’s first feature he produced, wrote and starred in. Aside from William Lee, the Hightowers, and now Mark, the African American community is largely under represented in our film community in Central Ohio. It warms my heart to see more people doing things. The crowd was almost sold out at Studio 35 and this was the ENCORE screening for Mark. Congrats, man.

I helped him out a little by recommending the WDTV media player so he could screen in High Def, instead of regular DVD. Now it looks like this might help several future screenings for other filmmakers doing screenings too, as I highly recommend this as the media player for screenings. It’s far more reliable than an optical disc, especially Blu Ray burnable discs. Ruth Lang and her OSU Reel Buckeye alums are doing a screening in a week or two also.

I have mixed feelings towards the Columbus film community as a whole right now. I am a “glass is half full” kind of guy. Even when I see technical problems in people’s filmmaking, I’m a big believer in being encouraging and not a film critic, unless asked or forced into it. The other school of thought, as I have oft mentioned, is the school of hard knocks and harsh criticisms so that people get better. There is a 3rd way, and probably the most prevalent in Central Ohio, is to say nice things to their face, then trash them behind their backs as if everyone but themselves are scum or unworthy. I don’t say anything behind someone’s back I wouldn’t say to their face, much to my reputations detriment.

I am becoming more jaded and cynical about organizations for film and the interpersonal politics therein. I am less and less interested in doing things “for” the community. I have not decided on the future of the Cowtown Film Series, or if organizing such events are worth my time. I see other people having levels of success entirely on their own and that is encouraging for everyone. I think they are more successful on the short term because they are people reaching out to their entire circle of influence and caring. Perhaps short films, even a collective of such, don’t evoke that kind of passion.

Or maybe I associate with the less-impassioned types. I am just very encouraged by the successes of people doing film in Columbus and the attendance at their screenings, nonetheless the volume therein. Even when these people are on the fringes or uninvolved in the various communities and groups, we are all still here for each other. I found it odd that I was entirely alone in the screening today from any single person from any of the film groups in attendance. I show my support by attending screenings, but that might be the extent of my support for a while.

Time will tell. I have to dedicate myself to a few projects for a bit. Speaking of which….

Refractory from Peter John Ross on Vimeo.

Preparation, Perspiration, and Peppermint

It’s go time. I’ve got a lot of preparations for my trip to the Greater Los Angeles Area. I want to do many things while I am there, but none more so than getting together with some old friends.


ACCIDENTAL ART is screening at the very last on Sunday March 21st, 2010 in the “Dark Comedy” block of short films, which is perfect, right before an awards ceremony. I’m not in this for awards. Getting in and getting played is its own reward. I like playing last though, as it’s got everyone revved up and settled in.

To me, I want to make the screening more affective in another way. The screening is across the street from the Paramount lot, so I wonder if that might have any advantages? Can I create an advantage in that?

Maybe. Maybe not. Only time will tell. I know this, not trying and assuming you will fail guarantees failure. I’d rather try and lose than not try and bitch and moan about how the system is screwed or how nothing ever goes my way. I can’t imagine how that feels anymore. I will try and keep trying until I feel like I tried every avenue available to me.

Chins up soldiers. We’re on the march…

Dig this, I just put up a BEHIND THE SCENES look at ACCIDENTAL ART!

Behind the Scenes - Accidental Art from Peter John Ross on Vimeo.

Enjoy,
peter john ross

Happiness, Sadness, and other assorted emotions

I got my first Official Rejection yesterday for ACCIDENTAL ART. SXSW, my most coveted festival in this run turned the short down. Realistically, it was a long shot. I’m not surprised, nor depressed, but I am disappointed. I had 2-3 hours of a bummer, but then the Beverly Hills Shorts Film Festival accepted the movie, so that eased the blow entirely. There are a few dozen more festivals I’m awaiting the answer to. I’m not worried at all. I feel great, actually.



I’m going to go out to LA for this screening. I will try to work this to make this significant in more than one way. It’s the technical “World Premiere”. Cast & Crew and Work-In-Progress screenings don’t count. They say that the Word Premiere is very important, so I don’t mind my losing the cherry to Daniel’s fest, as it’s got a great reputation and the location couldn’t be better.

The goal is to parlay this into something beyond just screening. I have plans and goals to be met and I have barely a month to pull it off. We’ll see if I can, as I am an optimist, but there are no guarantees. The point is to keep your chin up, take the blows, and keep on trucking through.

I hold in my hands today, 3 copies of ZOMBIES OF WAR, the UK version of HORRORS OF WAR. I like the collection of DVD’s for this movie as it’s still something to be proud of. No, the movie is far from perfect, but if all you do is wallow in the negative, you will have done all that work for nothing. Be proud of your movies because they are as children; be proud of them no matter what. No one can really insult the movie or point out something wrong with it that I haven’t already seen, so there’s no insult in opinions.



Now the odd thing is the DVD box art clearly says there is the Commentary Track, Visual FX Demo, Behind the Scenes Documentary, and 5.1 Surround. None of these things are on the DVD. Sadly, I provided all these things for distribution, but they did not add them to the disc. What bums me is that buyers in England are blaming us, the filmmakers for the deception. We very obviously have nothing to do with that.

I did get an email from someone in London who said that at the HMV shop in Piccadilly Circus, ZOMBIES OF WAR was ranked 19th Best Seller for the week. That’s a great ranking considering we’re going toe to toe with big named DVD releases. Looking today, they are sold out of ZOMBIES OF WAR at HMV.COM and AMAZON.CO.UK, so that’s a good sign.

My past and future have merged in a single day.

Toodle,
PJR

Red Che

We just watched CHE parts I and II on Blu Ray from Criterion. I’ve wanted to see this movie so bad because it was the first ever feature film shot with the RED ONE camera that we used on ACCIDENTAL ART. I originally wanted to see CHE in the theater on a 35mm film print to see how it transferred from a video source to celluloid and then projected, but it came and went so fast, I never heard that it played more than one showing in Columbus.



In most cases of video originated features that go to film print, when it comes back to video, they will telecine the film negative created thus solidifying the “film look”. In the case of the RED ONE footage and the movie CHE, they put the RED footage straight to Blu Ray instead, because the resolution of the RED footage is so high and clean, it made sense to use it.

The visual aesthetic was different. In CHE PART I, the contrast this with a nonlinear story going to black and white 16mm footage they shot, so the grain and detail were directly comparable. They also used anamorphic lenses on PART I, not the more standard film lenses. Since PART I took place in Cuba, the bright pastel colors and the greens were very bright, but pleasing. It didn’t look 10% like film per se, but it is still the closest approximation I’ve seen in a video camera.



For the grittier BOLIVIA story in PART II, the color palette changes, but the aesthetic of the RED remained and it looked great. I liked both movies, especially for how different they were. Steven Soderberg’s style very much represents the current dramatic filmmaking style that defines the last 10 years.



On the Blu Ray there is a 45 minute documentary on the development of the RED ONE camera and how it was used on the movie, and that this is the official first feature film to be shot with them. They even started with the prototype cameras that had no coverings over the sensor, so some of the dust speckles are from the fact that they had nothing to keep dirt out.

The handheld, available light, yet shallow focus, and slower paced style that permeate other movies like SEVEN POUNDS and CHILDREN OF MEN are all of a similar ilk. This is the modern dramatic aesthetic of today. I like it and want to move more towards this in my own work. In the end, the RED ONE does a great job with this look and feel. It’s the most filmic video camera I’ve ever seen. The VIPER and the GENESIS do good work, but they aren’t the same.

Be good,
Ross

Oligarchy in the UK

And the past comes back to haunt me again. HORRORS OF WAR, my first feature film to the uninitiated, has just been released in the UK on DVD as ZOMBIES OF WAR. I sure wish someone had told me. I’m only the co-director, producer, co-editor, and co-writer of the movie. It's always a surreal experience when your movie comes out in the UK and no one thought to tell the producers, directors, or anyone involved...

Also, yet again I cannot stress to them that the blue cover with armies of zombies looks cool, but is horribly wrong for our movie. The old way of getting their money for the rental and laughing to the bank doesn't work in the information age of the Internet. Every new UK review says they feel ripped off by the cover, thus letting people know, not endearing the public towards the movie, and creating bad buzz. That’s not good business by my definition. It’s a low budget B-Movie with the Grindhouse feel. If they marketed as such, we’d be targeting the right audience AND not alienating buyers.

Changing the name to "ZOMBIES OF WAR" makes sense. They are cashing in on ZOMBIELAND, etc. and the zombie film movement, even though it is more of what Quentin Tarantino referred to as the Italian filmmaking "Infected People" syndrome, not zombies as he so eloquently describes in the Japanese DVD extras for GRINDHOUSE (thanks McGraner!).

I am not thrilled, but at least it's out in another country! Getting the movie out there is always a good thing. Oh well, yet another DVD version of my movie for my collection. I have 3 copies coming from England already. I keep one sealed, one to open, and one to give away.

Abhorrent Submission

I just mailed out 4 more submissions to film festivals. That puts my total at 71 since December. Not all of these are ACCIDENTAL ART, some are RELATIONSHIP CARD going to the same festival, or sometimes even REFRACTORY, and in this rare care, it’s also UNCLE PETE’S PLAY TIME and HOW TO DEAL WITH TELEMARKETERS since this is for a comedy festival, but sending more than one movie increases the odds of getting something in the festivals.

I figured since I’m doing so many festival submissions, I thought I would share some basic tips, as I’m not an expert, so I can only give rudimentary advice, which I’m sure will piss off someone else in the local film community, but since when will it further my career to care about a high school mentality? My mindset is on a bigger playing field and I’m only interested in furthering my own career without having to step on anyone else to get there.

Why submit to film festivals? Most people have the dream of getting distribution for their feature film when a scout for a company that can release your film on DVD or even more rare in theaters sees it and cuts a deal, or even better you get a 3 picture deal at Columbia. This is the fantasy that CLERKS, SLACKER, RESERVIOR DOGS, ROGER & ME, EL MARIACHI, and BLAIR WITCH did to inspire the entire indie film movement. We all desire this, but the odds are stacked against us. It doesn’t look good. For me, I have a short film, so I’m merely hoping to get enough interest to help fund a low budget feature film continuing the story. The more laurel leaves I rack up, the more proof I have to investors that I am making something people want to see.

Most film festivals in Europe, Africa, and Asia are free to submit to. No entry fees to rack up, and knowing your movie has appeal in other cultures is a good thing. If I get into any of these foreign film festivals, I will use that as evidence to investors that the movies I write and direct have a universal appeal. Any OFFICIAL SELECTIONS I get from other countries just validate the cause. And they are free. A major secret tip, make sure on the CUSTOMS forms, you state that the value is $0 and that it is an “Artistic Sample of No Commercial Value” because in most countries, they charge a tax based on the value you wrote, so the film festival gets hit with charges if they accept the package. They tend NOT to, so your movie and submission will linger in postal hell in a foreign country.

Filmmakers on a different playing field use film festivals to network and market. It has replaced in some ways the limited theatrical runs at art house theaters that were booming in the 1990’s. Virtually every city has a few film festivals going at various times of year and the opportunities to get your movie seen on the big screen are increasing.

I include a nice mini-press kit. Color and Black & White stills from the movie, a 1 page filmmaker bio, and sometimes even press clippings; anything to set you apart from the herd. Of course it comes down to content, meaning a good movie, but even now there are a lot of good movies out there to compete with. The frills do add a special touch.



I’m not necessarily out to “win” anything, as in I am anti-competition. It’s more than enough to be an OFFICIAL SELECTION and get my movie played. The politics in winning awards and prizes bore me. I feel I can sell the idea of the movie without the wins and just the prestige of getting in. Someone else needs or wants the prizes, so they can have at it without ever worrying about me.

I submitted ACCIDENTAL ART to 3 of the top ten film festivals. I will walk on egg shells until mid-February to see if it got in to any of those. I have a festival strategy, but again my end goal is just in getting fuller financing for the feature length film, nothing more nothing less. If I don’t get in, that’s okay, as I have submitted to enough festivals I can expect more than a few to say yes.

I do feel this is a notable short film. If it does do well on the festival circuit, I wonder if some of these people who criticize me will finally let go of their prejudices or perhaps it will cause more jealousy. It is never my motivation, but it will be fascinating to see how it unfolds. Sadly, I believe more of my enemies read this blog than my friend

To my acolytes and enemies alike, I bid you adieu,
Peter John Ross

Kevin Smith's Big Business

I am a fan of Kevin Smith, the filmmaker not the dead actor from Xena Warrior Princess. His story of making CLERKS was inspirational for an entire generation of filmmakers, me included. The legend of making a film for $26,976 on credit cards lives on, but of course I have never used credit cards to make a film.

Kevin Smith’s rise to fame (at least with fan boys) happened in an era of the 1990’s where those circumstances do not exist today. There are so few movies with no name stars and the ability to look past surface to find substance is practically nonexistent, PARANORMAL ACTIVITY notwithstanding, as in those odds are so astronomically against repeating versus the annual sales and eventual theatrical release of no name star movies from Sundance every year during the 1990’s.

Now, Kevin Smith is about to release his first feature film from a major studio outside of one owned by the Weinstein’s since the 1995 release of MALLRATS, which was released by GRAMMERCY PICTURES, and indie division of UNIVERSAL, and sadly, as great as that movie was, it bombed at the box office.

I have a hypothesis as to why Kevin Smith is directing a movie called COP OUTwith Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan without his consistent producer Scott Mosier and without having written the script himself. He has to, if he wants longevity. The percentage of people who know who Jay & Silent Bob is pretty low compared to Bruce Willis and John McClane. A Hollywood movie reaches more people than a typical Kevin Smith movie, as much as the circle of friends I know are well versed in Askew language arts.

First off, given Kevin Smith’s penchant for being open and honest, especially on the college lecture circuit, this is apparently considered a crime in Hollywood. No one tells secrets, and even fewer tell the truth. The way he told stories of Prince, Jon Peters, Die Hard 4, Ben Affleck, and Tim Burton have probably made him a high risk to work with on bigger budgeted movies. Hollywood movies have sunk on bad press or any kind of negativity, and heads have rolled. Given the podcasts (or smodcasts if you prefer), Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace updates, not even taking into account his own site(s), Kevin Smith has very few secrets. This is the bane of a Hollywood Studio’s marketing department. They want total control over the films they produce and pay for. Kevin Smith has been unbelievably quiet about anything to do with his current feature, as in no dirt of any kind. Someone wants to play nice with the big studios, and that’s NOT a bad thing or a slam.



Secondly, after the financial loss of MALLRATS at the box office (even though it has more than made up for that via home video/DVD sales in every form), no other studio by Miramax (under the Weinstein’s) and the Weinstein Company (also under the Weinstein’s) would touch him. Bob and Harvey saw the potential in a long term relationship with Kevin Smith. They also saw a cult following which equated to a high profit, low investment opportunity in most of his films.

The downside is that given the circumstances, Kevin was locked into a near permanent situation with the Weinstein’s. Other companies are too afraid to take a chance on him both because of his honesty and volume, and the box office take on his last several movies. Even Clerks II made a profit, but the big studios want more than a profit ratio; they want to make tens of millions in profit. So that left Kevin Smith in a situation where if Bob and/or Harvey Weinstein didn’t like a movie he wanted to make, it probably wouldn’t get made.



After acting in LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD, and earning favor with Bruce Willis, combined with The Weinstein Company’s major decline in cash and production, these circumstances opened the door for COP OUT (formerly titled A COUPLE OF DICKS). Working with a more typical Hollywood budget, a lot less creative control, and yet with all the responsibility if it doesn't do well, Kevin Smith is now working for WARNER BROTHERS, and depending on the box office, may or may not get to continue making movies.

It’s my guess that this is Kevin Smith’s chance to get out from under the thumb of the Weinstein’s and insure he has a filmmaking future beyond View Askew, and might never have to be Silent Bob ever again…

But it is use a hypothesis. I will keep any opinion I have over the trailer to myself. I’m not a film critic.

Eli’s Book of RED

Aside from wanting to see the movie because of the bad ass trailer, I watched BOOK OF ELI from the Hughes Brothers because it was shot on the RED ONE camera, the same as ACCIDENTAL ART, but this was transferred to a 35mm film print and projected on a big screen. I wanted to see what it looked like… plus it looked bad ass.



I liked the movie as a movie, first and foremost. I liked the story and the action, although there was more story than action, which is a plus. Albert and Allen Hughes have a diverse and rich body of work. Starting out as 2nd or 3rd clones of the “Boyz in Da Hood” gangsta ripoff, they have long since departed into a dizzying array of genre and style. I particularly like the Jack the Ripper yarn FROM HELL with Johnny Depp based on the graphic novel by Alan Moore. BOOK OF ELI has several head nods to Kubrick, with an A CLOCKWORK ORANGE movie poster on the wall, then casting that movie’s star Malcolm McDowell in a small role later in the film.

Now as for the RED footage, I thought it was entirely indistinguishable from film. The depth of field, the detail, sharpness of image, movement, and even contrast were no different than film. I can’t speak as to the color palette as this movie had a nearly monochromatic look except for the final 2-3 shots. According to the D.P., an Oscar winner who worked on Forrest Gump and other movies of various genre, since they went for the sepia tones and little else, they didn’t need to color range of film negative. Now he was not sold on the RED ONE as a replacement for film, but the director’s are. They seem to think it is the new wave.

I do too. I have never said “film is dead” before, but I can now. I love 35mm and even super 16 and super 8, but film is dead. In a few scant years, we can kiss this good bye as a viable format if you don’t have many millions to shoot with…

Post Birthday Blog 2010

Ah how the wheel keeps turning. Your faithful narrator continues to plod on. Another year gone by and another birthday poker bash at the studio. I don’t really feel any older. My continual immaturity and inability to grow up refuses to let age dictate anything other than a number on a calendar.

In the past 60 days (less than actually), I have sent out 63 film festival submissions. Countries like New Zealand, Australia, France, United Arab Emirates, Netherlands, England, Ireland, Japan, India, Yemen, and more that I can’t recall without bringing up the shipping lists. In the U.S., I’m hoping to premiere at one of the big festivals, but think my chances are so-so at best. I’ve never screened at any of the top 30 film festivals. If I can get into South by Southwest (aka SXSW), or Tribeca, or the Beverly Hills Film Festival, any one of these three would make an exceptional premiere, and exceed my wildest hopes.

ACCIDENTAL ART is currently a 6 minute short film, but it is the first 6 minutes of a future feature film as well. It’s the movie I wanted to follow up HORRORS OF WAR with, so for 5 years this has been lingering. I think HORRORS OF WAR shattered my confidence in some ways. I learned a lot, but I had set bars for myself that were not met. 2009 was spent applying what I learned as a filmmaker artistically, using more shallow focus, more ambitious ideas being tried on smaller scales, etc. But they were also scrimmages for the real game. I’m ready for the real game now.



I think I want to shoot this feature in August/September come hell or high water. If I have to do it on the shoe string budget and minimal crew on HDV with a 35mm adapter, so be it. If I have enough money to book the name talent and shoot on RED again, I’ll do it. I’m committing to this feature film. I’m committing to doing what my heart tells me is the right thing to do.

I am holding off on fund raising until I find out about some film festival acceptances. Whether I get into the big ones or not, I think mathematically, the odds are in my favor to get into SOME film festivals (63 entries, some of them smaller festivals). Armed with some laurel leaves and the words “Official Selection to the ______ film festival”, I can make effective pitches to some money people I already know and have been waiting to approach. I will use it as evidence that people want to see this movie, which it is. Unbiased 3rd parties validating the film by playing it at their festival goes a long way with showing investors there is an interest in this idea for a movie.

With the 6 minute short as is, I have screened it as a “work in progress” a few times now, and feedback is an interesting thing. In most cases, it’s shown to filmmakers. I liken this to being a magician trying to show magic tricks to other magicians. They aren’t the audience I’m trying to reach or tell stories to. The comments are always “that was predictable” or “I would have done it THIS way!” and when you show it to general audiences, it gets a very different, and real response. Even filmmakers, in a GROUP setting, react differently.

I make movies for the intended THEATRICAL experience. Sitting in a dark room with a group of strangers connecting to a story gets a completely different reaction than sitting by yourself in a well lit room staring at a tiny window on your computer. It’s a lot harder to connect to people like that. Most movies will suck if they are seen that way, at least if they do not have the memory of seeing the movie theatrically first. It’s amazing how subconsciously people are relating the love of a movie they see on the portable device (IE Ipod or Zune) because they saw it and liked it on the big screen before that. People don’t realize how much their own mind does to the perception of a movie.

Things are coming together this year. Next up, a short in February, then a webseries shoot in March, then Brandy’s documentary in April-June, then hopefully my next feature film in August or September, with post production going on until December. My year is spoken for, my dance card full, and a really good outlook.

Official Rejection

This week’s shipment of submissions will put me past the 50 mark. That’s 50 film festival submissions. Wow. I don’t think I’ve ever submitted that much before. We’ll see if it pans out. Over the next month or so, I’ll see if I made something that gets into the big festivals. As I said before, I never really tried that hard. I finally have a movie that looks and feels like a “film festival” movie. Then again, I have received my first official rejection…which is a natural segue into:


OFFICIAL REJECTION is a DVD I got for Xmas and I’ve watched it 3 times. As I gear up for a real festival run in 2010, the gift was apropos. For anyone intending to do film festivals, I cannot recommend this enough. This documentary has a ton of good information and examples of good and bad festival experiences.



Bryan Singer (X-Men), Jenna Fisher (The Office), Lloyd Kaufman (Troma), Kevin Smith (Clerks), Chris Gore (Film Threat), and Andy Dick (Newsradio) are all interviewed, and in the 2 disc version they have extended interviews with several of them too.

It looks very possible they got the laurel leaves from the Sonnyboo downloads!