Interest - New Short Film

Here is the new short film that I helped produced. Directed by Jason White and staring Rod Carlson and Darren Ewing.

We shot the film on the same weekend that we also shot my last short Hands Clean. We called the weekend the Ryan McDonald and Jason White: Back 2 Back - similar to the marketing for the Grindhouse feature with Tarantino and Rodriquez.

I have posted both of the videos below. Each with a different budget, director of photography, different actors, different writer, different directors, but they both take place in the exact same hotel room. We had shot my film the day prior on a Saturday and Jason's on the Sunday.

Let us know what you think. Comments welcome!

Interest (2013)




Hands Clean (2012)

Poster and Marketing Ideas

I have had this one my desk at work for a couple of weeks now. Hoping that I would come up with a few more ideas for a possible poster. Here is all that I have so far.

I'm not the best graphic artist of all time, but I tried here. My intention with the one on the right is that it would be the main character with a bloody and bruised face. The Right one would be something more like Taken and Carlito's Way - which I had posted a concept of in a previous posting.

The left side might look like something very similar to this image of Ryan Gosling from Only God Forgives.

My idea is to have some graphics and images to help promote the film, even though right now there is no finished script, nor a cast. The bar going across the face of the character would be black with white lettering, and it would cover the face of the person. That way we can make a poster now, and still cast whoever we need down the road.

In the screenplay, there is at least one scene where John (main character) is brutally assaulted by several gang members. What I wrote, and what I imagine later, is something close to the images that I am seeing coming from  Only God Forgives.

So, thoughts? Comments? Seriously, we're looking for ideas. Or if you think you could come up with some great stuff and would love to join, than we'd love to have you. We'll be looking for someone who is majoring in marketing to help us out. Images and promotional concepts. Stuff that they may need for their portfolio.

Let us know!

Coming Soon! A New Short Film

Coming Soon! A tale about a gambling junkie and his bookie – directed by Jason White

We originally filmed this back in December of 2011, and now over a year later the short film is finally being released. So, why the long wait? Well, a couple things came into play. One fact is that we had a hot year in 2011. Jason and I together put out around six short films, and additionally film another four before the end of the year hit. We spent of a lot of days on set in 2011, and little did we know that we would spend even more days on set come 2012.

In 2012 I spent 32 days on set, outside of my full time job, and worked on 9 projects. All of that extra production time ate up a lot of pre-production time and thus, things get pushed.

We also had an audio issue the day that we filmed. So, we had to pull the actors back in have them redub a few lines. Plus, the color correcting and timing, and you add in the score – and again everyone has a full time job.

But finally the film is ready and has a release date. So, keep the eyes peeled and I’ll tune back in with the link to the new short by Jason White. 

Coffee of the Day

Collateral Tom Cruise Gun Training

I once saw an interview with director Michael Mann in which he explained that an actor can not just mimic the character, that they must become the character. The other day I posted about a favorite scene of mine, and for many others, from the film Collateral - directed by Mann.

Michael Mann is known for putting his actors through extensive training and gun handling in order to become the characters that they need to be. This is very present in many of his films, but most notable in Last of the Mohicans, Heat, Collateral, and Miami Vice. The actors look authentic and real and their use of weapons and gun handling also feels real because of their extensive training before filming.

As an indie film and on a micro budget, as I assume that we will be, I do not plan on having the funds available to have an actor be able to train for months. But I would like to plan ahead for the budget to have an actor go through course on handling and safety in order to present an authentic character. Also, budget aside, many no-budget films are using After Effects or some sort of CGI to created bullet hits and mussel flashes, and all the while using rubber or toy guns.

I think that these type of effects work great for Youtube videos, but for a feature I hope that we have a chance to use squibs, fake blood, and blanks.

In the story The One You Feed, our main character John is not a hitman, a bank robber, nor a police office. He is an ordinary man who lived through an extraordinary and painful experience. In his quest for revenge he'll go to the gym, go through self defense training, and also hit the shooting range.

In the final cut of the film, I hope that we are able to create a character with skills that are as presentable as the ones we seen in Michael Mann films.

Here is a behind the scene video of Tom Cruise and Michael Mann discussing the extensive training the he did for the film.




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Coffee for the Day

More updates are coming soon. Stay tuned. In the mean time here is your coffee for today - Enjoy!

Origin of the Cherokee Legend

Surfing around the internet today and looking for the origin of the mythos about the two wolves. First, there are many different titles - some say The One You Feed, some say The Wolf You Feed, some will say Cherokee Legend, and other will say Grandfather Tells.

Below is a post from another blogger regarding the origins of the Mythos, and reason why they do not like it to be attributed to the same Cherokee folklore.

"Stories and sayings attributed to Native Americans have been floating around probably since settlers stopped spending all of their time and energy on not dying. I am not entirely certain why stories that never originated in any indigenous nation are passed around as 'Native American Legends', but listener beware."

Continue reading at:

http://apihtawikosisan.com/2012/02/21/check-the-tag-on-that-indian-story/#comment-26157

More Inspiring Moments - The Writing Process

The writing continues and we are nearing the 70 page mark. Assuming that I stopped now, and that there were three complete acts in place, this would be considered and done deal as a complete feature film screenplay. 

However, I have not reached the end yet. That doesn't mean, that shooting script won't be down to 70 pages after revision and fine tuning. But I gather that my original draft will finish out somewhere between 100-120 pages. 

In the mean time, I have spoken and shared several other pieces of art, film, and music that are inspiring scenes, moments and even concepts on of The One You Feed screenplay. I recently wrote a scene that in which our main character John encounters a bad guy in an alley way. All the while as I was writing the scene I kept thinking of one of my favorite moments from Michael Mann film Collateral. 

Here is a picture of me at the location in Los Angeles. 

In the scene Tom Cruise, a hit man, confronts a thug about the theft of his brief case. In this film, the scene is very quick and rather brief to the over all story arc of the film. And in the brief moment it shows the audience the skills and power of Cruises character and gives reason for Jamie Foxx to now follow Cruise's lead more closely as they continue through the night. 

Now, I didn't carbon copy the scene from this film to my screenplay. It does inspire the scene that I wrote for The One You Feed, but the scenario and outcome of the scene are completely different. 

Here is that moment. Enjoy.

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The Writing Continues