Showing posts with label films. Show all posts
Showing posts with label films. Show all posts

Wednesday, September 03, 2008

Getting people interested in working on no-budget films

I'm currently working on an interesting task, but no one has told me I can't do it so I'm doing it anyways. At least no one whose opinion I value in the least.

I'm looking at doing what I'm calling a no-budget film. This means no one is getting paid, and I'm doing pre-production, production, and post-production myself.
I have a very skilled friend who is script savvy, who is working on it. I have a friend who was in my first film attempt who wants to act in it (specifically requesting that she be soaked in blood since it's leaning the way of the horror genre) and is excited to assist with production.
Ok, that's just two so far, but it's not like I've advertised or anything.

I'm actually learning that there are people who are out there willing to do this crap for fun. Not because they'll make any money at it ever, but for fun. I guess it stands to reason that if I'm willing to do it for fun why wouldn't there be other people?

Logistically it may be a bit of a nightmare, but I'm game anyway. That is, if I'm not paying them to act in the thing and they just don't feel like showing up for filming one day there's not much in the way of incentive for them to come. There will be contracts signed (for liability and license for me to own the finished product reasons), but what am I going to do? Withhold their pay of $0.00 if they don't show or perform? Wag my finger at them and give them a stern lecture?

For that reason every actor "hired" is going to be an exercise in trust. They trust that I wont make them look dumb and I trust that they'll show up and let me put fake blood on them. It's a two way street you know.

On the back side I also need to worry about little things like music. Anyone who knows me knows that I have a sometimes odd, sometimes too-easy-to-please, but still somehow picky taste in music. I can't insert music that I have on CDs at home because I want to own the finished product.
This is the part where I'm glad I know a couple/few people in bands. No one has agreed to offer anything up yet, but that's because I haven't asked yet. Maybe I should ask then eh?

Friday, August 22, 2008

Drawing women in the supermarket

I recently watched the 2006 film Cashback. I'd never heard of the thing, ever. When I was done I couldn't help but feel like I'd just seen an incredibly beautiful film. A quick check of the IMBD message boards clued me in quickly to the notion that not everyone felt the same way about it. WARNING: Spoilers.

Does it have lots of nudity? Yes. It does. Admittedly the the male to female nudity ratio is 1 guy to dozens of women. But I think it's fair to say that a sleep deprived art school student in his early 20s is fairly likely to look at things just as the lead did. So is there cause for women to be offended by it? Only they can say. I kinda can't help but feel like that completely misses the point of the film. It has the nudity, but I'm not sure that I'd agree that it's about the nudity. I think it's really just a love story that happens to have a lot of nudity.

To contrast with the main characters somewhat questionable pass times while at work, he has a friend who is consistently either having his face slapped or having a drink thrown in it. Then there's the coworkers who boast about sleeping with women they've never had a chance with, and the store manager who does a fine job of hitting on employees with a pat on the ass or asking them up for a shag (it's an English film). All of the guys displaying the piggish behavior are made to look like the idiots that they are. I think it's all rather fairly treated.

If you're offended by dumb guys acting dumb and nudity then it probably wont be your bag. If you've ever lost sleep for someone you may well relate to the film more than you think. In either case, I loved the thing.
I'm pretty sure I'll be watching this love story again.