My brain is about to melt and seep out of my ears.
Okay that's a lil overdramatic. But here's why I feel a bit like imploding:
So I just spent the last weekend in Vegas (as a very late 21-st b-day present from my family). I had a great time, managed to forget about school for 48 hours or so, and upon returning Monday night...began vomiting my guts out.
Seems the Pizza Hut cheese pizza I got at the Las Vegas airport had salmonella or something in it becuase for the last 36 hours I've felt absolutely terrible. I've always heard about the horrors of food poisoning, but now I truly understand how debilitating it is. Luckily this morning I'm slowly returning to functionality...the only problem is, I've just realized exactly how much work I've put off by being in Vegas and being sick...and now my brain is melting.
For starters, I need to write up "beat sheets" for Quality of Life and my own "Gay Armenian" movie. I also need to write a short paper for Film Comedy. These are both due tomorrow.
On top of that, I need to prepare for my first big weekend of shooting for my 196A Project, a short film musical! I need to buy costumes, props, do rehearsals with my actors, assemble a crew, lock down locations, etc...in the next 48 hours or so. God help me.
So basically, I need to stop procrastinating by writing this blog and get to work. Wish me luck!
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Loglines and Pitches...
...are harder than one would think.
**NOTE: I meant to post this last Wednesday, but didn't realize it was only saved to "drafts" and not actually "posted"...so here it is, a week late...
Without ever consciously thinking about it, I've always been asked to pitch my movies--I just never knew how. If I excitedly tell a friend: "I'm making this awesome kung-fu action movie, it's gonna be...awesome!" (as I did often in my last couple years of high school) they DID always have the same question: "What's it about?"
And then I would, without exception, break into a 5-minute ramble about the film, describing individual scenes from the film in excruciating detail until the poor questioner's eyes would glaze over. I'd usually finish with: "Trust me, it's gonna be awesome."
Which brings me to this week's reading/assignment. I was asked to do a "real" pitch for my film, but before that I read a bit of "Save The Cat" by Blake Snyder. The first chapter: "What Is It?" basically re-pounded into my head the importance of being able to describe my film in not three, not two, but ONE sentence.
How the hell do you do that?? It's kind of tragic actually, for a screenwriter--to have to compress all these thousands of scattered thoughts and ideas that coalesce to form a story into...one sentence. But as Snyder points out, creating a logline isn't only practical (our society has an attention span of about 5 seconds) it's vital for the writer him/herself to be able to understand what, at its core, their screenplay is really all about. Because if it's just a bunch of strung-together sequences that add up to no real meaning...that's not really a film worth making. It's certainly not going to be a film worth watching.
Alright, now all I gotta do is narrow my gay-Armenian-college-graduate-homophobia-culture-clash-love-story screenplay into 1 sentence! Damn you Blake Snyder.
**NOTE: I meant to post this last Wednesday, but didn't realize it was only saved to "drafts" and not actually "posted"...so here it is, a week late...
Without ever consciously thinking about it, I've always been asked to pitch my movies--I just never knew how. If I excitedly tell a friend: "I'm making this awesome kung-fu action movie, it's gonna be...awesome!" (as I did often in my last couple years of high school) they DID always have the same question: "What's it about?"
And then I would, without exception, break into a 5-minute ramble about the film, describing individual scenes from the film in excruciating detail until the poor questioner's eyes would glaze over. I'd usually finish with: "Trust me, it's gonna be awesome."
Which brings me to this week's reading/assignment. I was asked to do a "real" pitch for my film, but before that I read a bit of "Save The Cat" by Blake Snyder. The first chapter: "What Is It?" basically re-pounded into my head the importance of being able to describe my film in not three, not two, but ONE sentence.
How the hell do you do that?? It's kind of tragic actually, for a screenwriter--to have to compress all these thousands of scattered thoughts and ideas that coalesce to form a story into...one sentence. But as Snyder points out, creating a logline isn't only practical (our society has an attention span of about 5 seconds) it's vital for the writer him/herself to be able to understand what, at its core, their screenplay is really all about. Because if it's just a bunch of strung-together sequences that add up to no real meaning...that's not really a film worth making. It's certainly not going to be a film worth watching.
Alright, now all I gotta do is narrow my gay-Armenian-college-graduate-homophobia-culture-clash-love-story screenplay into 1 sentence! Damn you Blake Snyder.
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
My Movie Site
Here's a little site I'm putting together for my short film musical: http://fdm.ucsc.edu/~fdm196a/Students/acallero/Film%20196a/Home.html
As you can see, it still lacks a title (I'm HORRIBLE at thinking of titles), but you can check out some early shots from the film by clicking on the "video" tab. More updates to come soon!
As you can see, it still lacks a title (I'm HORRIBLE at thinking of titles), but you can check out some early shots from the film by clicking on the "video" tab. More updates to come soon!
Monday, April 7, 2008
Spring Quarter 2008: "Hold On To Your Butts"
That infamous Samuel L. Jackson line from Jurassic Park seems fairly apt right now.
I just began production on my senior project in film/video: a 15-minute film musical. Right now my head is spinning just thinking about all the pre-production that needs to be completed by April 25 (the first day of 3 consecutive weekends of shooting). Luckily, I thought ahead with this one, and I've already gone through a few drafts of the script. I've also cast my lead actors (the wonderful Shashona Brooks and Aeon Brady), but I still need to cast for 6 supporting characters. I also need to lock down props, costumes, locations...oh, and did I mention music?
In another extraordinary stroke of luck, I managed to recruit the incredibly talented singer/songwriter/musician Rachel Williams (of Birds Fled From Me). Now the pressure's on to get the very important songs composed and recorded in just a little over two weeks!!
On top of all that, I of course have two other classes this quarter at UCSC. One of them inspired the creation (and naming) of this blog. The class, "Filmmaking: From Writing to Releasing" may very well be the ONLY "practical" film course I've ever taken at UCSC. Sure, production courses gave me valuable experiences and opportunities to create short films...but I think this class is the only one that covers what filmmaking is like out there in the "real world." And as I'm graduating very shortly and possibly about to move down to Los Angeles, I feel the "real world" approaching rapidly. Then again, it is LA...does that qualify as the "real world"? What is "real"? How do you define "real"? Thanks Morpheus.
The "DIY = Dangerously Insane Yearning" in the title is a play on "DIY = Do-It-Yourself." The two UCSC alum who teach "From Writing to Releasing" split filmmaking up into three categories:
1.) Hollywood (Everything from Transformers to Notting Hill)
2.) "Indiewood" (Those movies that claim to be indie films but really have multi-million dollar budgets and star big-name actors, e.g. Garden State and Little Miss Sunshine)
3.) "DIY" Filmmaking (This is the kind of filmmaking I have experience with--making movies with zero to low budget, no stars, no studios...you get the idea)
I call it the Dangerously Insane Yearning, because as maddening as truly DIY, independent filmmaking can be...I still yearn to do it. In fact I really do think it's the only thing I'll be satisfied doing at this point. I could go into many other professions. But I don't want to. And I don't think I'd be very happy doing so. Not that filmmaking makes one happy all the time (in fact most of the time it's just incredibly stressful)...but it's the one thing I feel I have some sort of instinct toward...some instrisic drive to do.
So even though DIY filmmaking is Dangerously Insane, I still Yearn to do it.
And despite all the madness that will be the next couple months of my life, you know what? I'm ready for it. The timing seems right. I'm ready to create this project that I'm truly passionate about. And I'm ready to finally learn the hard yet exciting realities of making a feature-length film the non-Hollywood way. Because I think, eventually, that's what I really want to do.
Let's do this!!!
P.S. I'm inviting my good friend Michael Tucker to post on this blog as well, as he shares my "Dangerously Insane Yearning." My hope is that in the future we can collaborate on our own dangerously insane feature-length film project . . .
P.P.S. I've decided I need to stop using the words "dangerously insane" in every sentence of this blog.
I just began production on my senior project in film/video: a 15-minute film musical. Right now my head is spinning just thinking about all the pre-production that needs to be completed by April 25 (the first day of 3 consecutive weekends of shooting). Luckily, I thought ahead with this one, and I've already gone through a few drafts of the script. I've also cast my lead actors (the wonderful Shashona Brooks and Aeon Brady), but I still need to cast for 6 supporting characters. I also need to lock down props, costumes, locations...oh, and did I mention music?
In another extraordinary stroke of luck, I managed to recruit the incredibly talented singer/songwriter/musician Rachel Williams (of Birds Fled From Me). Now the pressure's on to get the very important songs composed and recorded in just a little over two weeks!!
On top of all that, I of course have two other classes this quarter at UCSC. One of them inspired the creation (and naming) of this blog. The class, "Filmmaking: From Writing to Releasing" may very well be the ONLY "practical" film course I've ever taken at UCSC. Sure, production courses gave me valuable experiences and opportunities to create short films...but I think this class is the only one that covers what filmmaking is like out there in the "real world." And as I'm graduating very shortly and possibly about to move down to Los Angeles, I feel the "real world" approaching rapidly. Then again, it is LA...does that qualify as the "real world"? What is "real"? How do you define "real"? Thanks Morpheus.
The "DIY = Dangerously Insane Yearning" in the title is a play on "DIY = Do-It-Yourself." The two UCSC alum who teach "From Writing to Releasing" split filmmaking up into three categories:
1.) Hollywood (Everything from Transformers to Notting Hill)
2.) "Indiewood" (Those movies that claim to be indie films but really have multi-million dollar budgets and star big-name actors, e.g. Garden State and Little Miss Sunshine)
3.) "DIY" Filmmaking (This is the kind of filmmaking I have experience with--making movies with zero to low budget, no stars, no studios...you get the idea)
I call it the Dangerously Insane Yearning, because as maddening as truly DIY, independent filmmaking can be...I still yearn to do it. In fact I really do think it's the only thing I'll be satisfied doing at this point. I could go into many other professions. But I don't want to. And I don't think I'd be very happy doing so. Not that filmmaking makes one happy all the time (in fact most of the time it's just incredibly stressful)...but it's the one thing I feel I have some sort of instinct toward...some instrisic drive to do.
So even though DIY filmmaking is Dangerously Insane, I still Yearn to do it.
And despite all the madness that will be the next couple months of my life, you know what? I'm ready for it. The timing seems right. I'm ready to create this project that I'm truly passionate about. And I'm ready to finally learn the hard yet exciting realities of making a feature-length film the non-Hollywood way. Because I think, eventually, that's what I really want to do.
Let's do this!!!
P.S. I'm inviting my good friend Michael Tucker to post on this blog as well, as he shares my "Dangerously Insane Yearning." My hope is that in the future we can collaborate on our own dangerously insane feature-length film project . . .
P.P.S. I've decided I need to stop using the words "dangerously insane" in every sentence of this blog.
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