Case in point, we didn’t use a slate at all on WHAT’S UP LOVELY (2-person crew) and I thought of this video to give me the confidence that it could be done.

Having directed and edited previously helped me shoot SCHERMANN SONG myself with the cuts in mind.  But it was Rodriguez’s video and his philosophy that instilled that mindset for me — where now his lesson and my hands-on experience are major contributing factors to becoming an economical filmmaker during production.  I’m proud to say I’ve never gone into heavy overtime (12+ hours) on any of my film sets.

Enjoy!  Now go make your film.

Without consciously thinking about it, all the films that I’ve written and directed feature a major character walking away from the camera down a long hallway — each time occurring during Act 1 of their story.  I guess you do what you love (sometimes without even noticing it).

The cool thing is that now I have a tiny body of work to look back on and reflect on my growth.  I can see the flaws, learning lessons and, in this case, patterns.  I wonder why I’m obsessed with characters and hallways?

When looking back, what have you noticed about your films so far?

Click images to enlarge

NEW YORK LATELY (2009)

WHAT’S UP LOVELY (2010)

HOW DO YOU WRITE A JOE SCHERMANN SONG (2012)

I get this from a complete stranger.  I smile.  And I continue on…..

It was great connecting with so many talented and enthusiastic writers.  The hour quickly flew by and I spent about 30 extra minutes trying to catch up to all the questions.  I started off the chat letting everyone know I was planning to share the “here’s what I did” more than the “how to” as I don’t believe there’s ever only one way to get a film made.

Click here to read the full transcript of tweets…

A huge thanks for the Scriptchat Creators (Jeanne Veillette Bowerman, Mina Zaher, Zac Sanford, Jamie Livingston, Kim Garland) for giving me this opportunity.  I had a blast.

Related Videos I created for the event:
Part 1: Directing your own script
Part 2: Directing someone else’s script
Part 3: Directing without a script

I will be a guest on #ScriptChat (Sunday: March 27th – 8pm EST) to talk about my experiences on bringing your script to life. Learn more about this group here.

Here’s the last installment of bringing a script to the screen. This is a sequence from WHAT’S UP LOVELY which was created from an entirely different approach: having no formal script at all.  Read more about it here.

Working solely from a treatment and having the majority of scenes be improv-based was a great experience.  It can be very daunting going in to a film and not have the exact story plotted out.  I relied on a great actress (Jenn Dees) who helped me shape both the character (Luci) and story — during the shoot and in the editing room.  Learn about our test screening process here.

There is a voiceover (VO) component that we recorded after shaping the story in the editing room.  It’s not a narrative explanation to what’s happening on screen….but more of a contemplative inner-dialogue that allowed our viewers to get deeper into Luci’s thoughts.  I told Jenn from the very beginning that I wished for her to keep a diary as the character during the shoot…and that we’d draw upon it after the film was put together.  Ultimately, she had to draft about 4 versions of the VO’s — basically for each rendition of the film as it was being shaped during the editing process.

For Scene 22-23, you can see there are very few lines written about what’s supposed to happen on screen — and yet I think we found some nice moments.   We actually moved the originally planned dialogue exchange from Scene 23 to Scene 22 — mainly because we realized that shooting a lengthy conversation on the tracks could take longer to get the coverage and performances needed….and we didn’t wish to overstay our welcome.

This moment of the film was always planned, but we soon discovered the key he gives her had gained more significance in the editing room and with test audiences…so much so in fact that we shaped more of the film around it.  I originally hadn’t planned the object to anchor the film as much as it does in the final cut.

Approaching the making of this film was very different than working from a traditional script.  It allowed more freedom and yet we had to have a strong sense of who the character was in order to build moments around her.  Going in knowing this was a great challenge that everyone was eager to take on….and it was one of the best experiences I’ve ever had.

Hope to see you on #Scriptchat next week!

Please note: After playing….click the icon with 4 arrows (located at the bottom right hand corner of the video window — next to the VIMEO logo). This will expand the image to FULL SCREEN so you can read the text of the script much easier.

SHORT VERSION

EXTENDED VERSION (featuring scene work) – psssst my cameo is at 04:03…I’m in the ski mask

FILMOGRAPHY:
HOW DO YOU WRITE A JOE SCHERMANN  SONG (2011)
DEATH OF THE DEAD (2010)
WHAT’S UP LOVELY (2010)
DISMAL (2009)
NEW YORK LATELY (2009)

Both films had great feedback!

@BillElverman tweeted that WHAT’S UP LOVELY is “an artistic masterpiece, Jenn Dees gives best indie performance of year so far…”

@loopmovie said that DEATH OF THE DEAD “out Troma’d TROMA!”

I couldn’t ask for anything better than those reactions.

This event was pretty epic in a major tweetup of artists and the like: @kingisafink @shericandler @BillElverman @gavinbjames @TWEAK @jakestetler @Philontilt @loopmovie @Emergencegrrl @Flywayfilmfest @Andrew_James @WTLTE @JayCheel @Hunterweeks

Disclaimer: this pic is not copied and pasted from the King Is A Fink production blog

I caught a bevy of interesting films.  As always there wasn’t enough time to catch everything.  See my previous post for one of my faves of the fest — COOKING WITH GERRY by Jay Cheel.

I also managed to be the first person in Pepin to see the TILT trailer — I was in the theater doing some A/V testing for my screening when it was also tested. I can’t wait to see it.

Such a great venue and audiences at Flyway!!

I also found out that being a stalker is not easy.  So disappointing when you can’t get that “clear shot” that you wait hours for (see sample pic below).  I had my chance but dropped the ball by not focusing my camera!

Julie Keck and Jessica King of Kingisafink

Phil Holbrook lost his car keys again.  Checking the box to make sure they’re not in there.

I got to catch up with Andrew James of ROW THREE.  I briefly hung out with his band of brothers (Jay Cheel, Matt Gamble of WHERE THE LONG TAIL ENDS) — and they also interviewed me.

Click here to listen to my interview with ROW THREE

Andrew and me

I had the honor of winning the 1st annual “Spirit of Flyway” award.  They describe the recipient as someone who embodies the passion of indie filmmaking while supporting and/or sharing the works of others.  I could have named so many other deserving people in the room — so it’s a great deal to me that I was named first.  The great thing is next year I get to help decide the award winner and do the hand-off.

One of the best perks is I was given an Axe as my reward

Thanks to Rick and Diana Vaicius and all the amazing volunteers for putting on a great festival. Can’t wait to return in 2011!!

FLYWAY HIGHLIGHTS:
- finally meeting or catching up with some amazing filmmakers and film supporters
- people quoted my films (WHAT’S UP LOVELY, DEATH OF THE DEAD) back to me
- someone told me that I inspired him to go make his movie
- Audience member bought WHAT’S UP LOVELY DVD after the screening and said “I want to show this to my friends”
- the local town support and attendance, their hospitality, the fest swag bag & t-shirt….and the pie
- being inspired from hearing about everyone’s future projects

One of the memorable moments of my trip was visiting the hometown (Rochester, Minnesota) that I grew up in — but hadn’t been back since 1978.  One of my wonderful neighbors still live in their original house – it was surreal to see them and talk about fond memories of my childhood.  I remember them being much taller.

The Staneks

Related Sites:
FLYWAY FILM FESTIVAL website
FLYWAY Facebook Page
FLYWAY Twitter Page
Snapshots from the festival by DP/Producer Jeremy Wilker

October 10th, 2010

That’s the date I’m bringing WHAT’S UP LOVELY to the Annapolis Pretentious Film Society.

Click here for the screening details

The Annapolis Sound | Interview with Gary King, Director of What’s Up Lovely

Here’s a video highlight from my previous visit there with NEW YORK LATELY.  Needless to say it was a great experience and the audience is one of the best out there — I just wish I could come back more often.

Jenn Dees and I hope to see you there!

Here are the other ways you can see the film now:
BUY THE DVD
WATCH INSTANTLY ON CINEFIST TV
PURCHASE THE DIGITAL DOWNLOAD

WHAT’S UP LOVELY is my 3rd feature film — but the first project in which I allowed for time to reshoot the film and do pickups. It helped tremendously.