Here it is. The first of 12 short films over the next year; my film for January, “Mystery Box”. Enjoy.
Film #1: “Mystery Box”
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Author Archives: Ian Robertson
Film #1: Quick Update
As the end of the month has arrived (it just passed midnight), I’m working hard to finish up my first film of the series. Here’s a little progress report: I finished the full visual cut and I’m really pleased with how it all looks. Now I just need to be as pleased with how it all sounds. I’ve moved on to editing sound and creating the soundtrack. I’ve actually got some foley work to still do in order to get some sounds that weren’t happening live during the shoot. I’ve got about half of the music bed created for the film and I’m working on the second half. The plan for the film is to still have it up by tomorrow (or I guess it’s today – either way: January 31). Stay tuned…
Fox Searchlight Screenplays
This is cool. Fox Searchlight pictures has offered the screenplays to a number of their current films for download including Juno, The Darjeeling Limited, Once, Waitress, and more. Two of them were nominated for the Academy Award for “Best Original Screenplay” (Juno and The Savages). You can check them out here.
(ht to Jay)
Writing for Emotion
There’s an interesting post on the storyboarding/animation blog, Temple of the Seven Golden Camels that reviews the book, “Writing for Emotional Impact
There are so many different books that offer helpful insight into how to fix the structure of your script and, after all, it is very, very important for the structure to work. But ultimately you want the structure to service the overall emotional experience of the film – the whole point of the structure is to make the emotional “punch” of the film work as effectively as possible.
As I think about writing in this context, I immediately think of character development because viewers empathize and become emotionally involved with characters, not the film’s structure. I think one of the greatest temptations when writing characters is to move them from plot-point to plot-point, occasionally throw in a joke or some cheap pathos, and then get them moving toward the next act or major plot development. I find myself doing it far too often. After all, it’s easier to write clichés with singular, simplistic motivations that will take you easily through the plot then write complicated, three-dimensional characters that cause you to think about why they’re involved in the plot to begin with as well as why they continue through it.
I realize that it can be near impossible to create a terribly complicated character in a 5 minute short film, but it is absolutely possible to pull back a few layers and reveal that the character has more facets than their initial actions might suggest. And it is of course possible to connect emotionally with the viewer (after all, 30 second commercials can and do deliver emotional impact).
Overall, I feel challenged to really work on the characters I create for my films to deliver that emotional impact. I would love to write at least one character that somehow connects with the viewer emotionally and moves beyond being little more than a vehicle for the plot.
Film #1: The Shoot
The shoot on Tuesday turned out well. But wow, it’s been a while since I’ve produced and directed anything completely from scratch. As I mentioned, writing the script wasn’t exactly a quick and disciplined process. Nor was it done with much time to really plan the shoot as well as I would have liked. No, I finished writing the final draft of the script at around 7:30am the morning of the shoot. I spent the next hour storyboarding as much as I could (which ended up being about half the script), and then charged through getting the apartment and equipment set up for the shoot. And by equipment, I mean camera and tri-pod; and a couple of old work lights…this is a no-budget production after all.
At 9:30am, my brother Blake (the lead in the film) arrived, followed by my friend, Chris who offered to help out any way he could. When I went to actually print out the script, my printer decided to stop working. It printed out one page of the script, followed by a page missing random lines and half-lines of text, followed by white sheets of paper. I switched cartridges, but it did nothing. The cartridge had ink, the printer head was moving across the page, but all I received was blank paper. Not wanted to waste too much time, I decided to shoot off of my storyboards (which as you’ll recall is only half complete).
We got off to something of a slow start (which was entirely my fault – a result of not being in the habit of running a shoot), but eventually we got a good pace going. Chris had to leave halfway through the shoot; but just before he left, my friend Allison was able to come over to help out. Their help was indispensable. Of course the fun part of the shoot came when I ran out of storyboards. I would periodically check the script on my computer to make sure I was still on track, but for the most part the second half of the film was shot completely from the hip. You’ll have to let me know if you can tell.
I’ve already logged and imported all of the footage and I’m really excited about how some of the shots turned out. If nothing else, I know I’ve got a few good-looking shots that I’m proud of. I’ve got a lot of work to do on the sound as well as color-grading. Light was hard through most of the shoot. My apartment does not fill with natural light well (which is what I had been counting on) so I was constantly using a mixture of natural and tungsten light and only really felt like I got it right a couple of times. So, I’m counting on my ability to fix it in post (which is never a good thing to count on…seriously). I’m planning on shooting the title sequence this weekend as well as some foley sound; and then it’s all about the editing.
All in all, the day went well. I was able to shoot the script with a fair amount of coverage, dive head-first back into production, and have fun at the same time. Shooting this film gave me a lot to think about and remember going into the production of the next one. Namely, how I plan and organize the schedule and shoot beforehand.
Stay tuned for the completed film in just under a week.
Writing
Writing is not something I do a lot of (in case you couldn’t already tell by the overwhelming number of posts I’ve written since starting this site 21 days ago). But writing is something I want to do more of and (hopefully) get better at in the process. Besides, in order to shoot and edit 12 films over the next year, I’m going to have to first write 12 films over the next year. So in a sense, the project (and especially this blog) is becoming a discipline in writing for me. Although so far it feels like it’s been a exercise in attention deficit disorder. Seriously, it is so hard for me to just sit and write. I feel like after every sentence, paragraph, and phrase I need to check my email or see what’s on TV or get up and stretch or do something else not-writing-based.
In fact, as I type this, I’m in the middle of revising my second draft of the January film, “Mystery Box” (more on the film soon). Of course, I’m shooting it tomorrow but that doesn’t seem to stop me from distracting myself from writing it tonight. Although I guess technically, I’m shooting it today as the clock just passed midnight. So with that in mind, I’d better get back to my current revision of the script. I’ll let you know how it turns out.
What It Is
So what is 12 Films in 12 Months all about? In short, it’s about two things: storytelling and motivation. But first, a little back-story: I got hooked on making movies nine years ago when I started learning to edit while volunteering in a middle school ministry at my church. I just couldn’t get enough of it. I changed my major in college and studied visual arts and filmmaking. When I finished college I was hired at my current job as a media and graphic designer; creating all sorts of presentations, design work, and videos for the events that we produce.
So this is where the “12 films” project comes in. It’s not a replacement for my job. Rather it’s a chance for me to tell my own stories with no assumptions; no preconceived intention as to who is going to be viewing it and what story it should tell. It’s also a practice in discipline. It’s all too easy for me to have an idea of a project I’d like to do and then put it off endlessly, spending my time and energy elsewhere. Well, now I feel like I not only have accountability (in you, the reader and subscriber of this blog); but also a series of hard deadlines, namely the last day of each month.
And I get excited thinking about each one of the upcoming months because I love movies. I love watching them and I love making them. I love it when they move me, entertain me, amuse me, teach me, and challenge me. I love deep, insightful films as much as I love fun, seat-of-your-pants thrilling films. I don’t even mind a summertime popcorn-munching blockbuster, as long as it’s a good ride with decent writing and memorable characters.
As far as my own movies go, I can’t promise that every short film I make over the next year is going to be an award winner. But that’s not really the point. I’m doing this to learn, grow, have fun, push myself and make movies that I like. Yes, I’d love to produce some good films that people enjoy watching; and hopefully my films will get better as the year goes on. But really, I’m more excited about the process at this point and telling good stories well, than about trying to produce my “one great film” or “breakthrough film” or whatever.
And that process is why I’m blogging the whole thing. I want to share my experience and I want your feedback, comments, suggestions, and thoughts along the way. So thanks for being with me here at the beginning. Please stick around and join me for this crazy year of filmmaking.
Welcome to 12 Films in 12 Months
2008 is here and 12 Films in 12 Months has begun. I’m going to spend the next 366 days making 12 short films (one a month) and documenting the whole process here. As I start to wrap my head around what that’ll look like, I am slightly nervous but very excited. I’m going to try and post as much as I can about the process from beginning to end of each film. I hope you’ll join me along the way.