"Head Shot" MiniSode

We've posted yet another MiniSode "The Head Shot".

In this episode we give an idea on how to show a bullet impact. Leave us a comment to let us know what you think.

And don't forget to subscribe! :)

How to make a car crash

We have finished our second MiniSode - "The Reverse Effect". In this MiniSode, we give an example of how you can create a convincing car crash (without the ambulance ride afterward). You can find it below.

And remember, if you have a question you would like see turned into a MiniSode, post it to this blog.



Ryan

Making the Films first Minisode!

Hey Guys,


It's been a while, but we have finally posted our first minisode! "Day for Night" (which you can see below). We are working on the full episodes (which will be coming in November) and have had a great response so far. Our film "TELL" is coming along as well and we will be announcing our cast very soon.

If you like the episode and would like to see one of your questions made into an episode post it below on this blog, the best (or most asked) questions will be chosen.

Thanks!
Ryan

Update! & Behind the scenes pics

Hey Guys,

First, we are very sorry to have gone silent for so long. We have been working around the clock to get “Making the Film” and “TELL” the best they can possibly be.

The good news is- things are going great!

We have begun shooting “Making the Film” and have been able to get some sponsors so that we can bring you contests where you can win professional gear that is being used in Hollywood right now! In our first episode of “Making the Film” we will be announcing this first contest… But there will be many more. J We have also been able to interview big names in Hollywood and pick their brains to get you guys some really great information about filmmaking from the mind of blockbuster making pros.

As far as our film “TELL” goes, the script is complete and we are in the casting process right now and will be announcing our cast very soon. Of course because it is a low/no budget film they are all local actors, but so far we’ve found some excellent talent!

We have been capturing the entire behind the scenes process of “TELL” and we think you are going to love the results in “Making the Film”!

Keep a look out for new stuff, they will be coming quick! And don’t forget to subscribe so you don’t miss out on any of the great upcoming contests!!!

Ryan

P.S. The behind the scenes pictures of “Making the Film” are courtesy of AshleyDanyellePhotography.

New trailers online

"The Watchmen" has finally released a trailer online! Check it out here:

The Watchmen - Med-Res, HD

I am very interested to see what Zack Snyder will do with this film. Also check out the trailers for:

Terminator Salvation - High-Res, Med-Res, HD

Body of Lies - High-Res, Med-Res, HD

All the Boys Love Mandy Lane - Trailer

Ryan

Where to find hollywood scripts

Scripts are so specific in how they are written, even more so with what is considered acceptable to studios and managers, which leaves a million question for a new writer. Ever pull your hair out over questions like these: How much description can I add? Should I describe action scenes? Should it be purely a blue print or should it entertain? Can I bold, italicize or underline?... etc.

I think one of the best ways to learn how to structure a script is by reading them, and online you can pretty much find any script you can think of. I love reading a script after I've watched the film to see what changed, how much was ad-lib on the part of the actors and how well it translated to the screen. But most of all, it is invaluably informative on structure. With all the contradicting opinions on what can and cannot be added into a screenplay, it's extremely helpful to see how the pros handle it.

Of course you want to steer clear of established writers. They can get away with a lot because they've proven themselves. Try to find scripts from first time writers, or go back and get some of your favorite writer's first scripts. A great one to read is Shane Black's LETHAL WEAPON.

Here are some links where you can find and download scripts for free:

Simplyscripts.com

Script-o-rama.com

Ryan

Up coming interviews!

Hey guys,

We will be interviewing both David Slade (Director of Hard Candy and 30 Days of Night) and David Bruckner (Writer Director of The Signal) this Monday. If you have a question that you would like to see answered from either of them, leave a comment with the question, your first name and your city/state.

Please have the questions in by Sunday night if you want them to have a chance to make it into the interviews.

-Ryan

Online film community and festival

If you haven’t heard of triggerstreet.com you should be ashamed of yourself… Really. Go paint a giant red “A” on your chest and hang your head low with shame… I’m kidding… Kind of…

TriggerStreet is an amazing online community where you are able to post your short films and get feedback from the other members. You can also check out all the films from the other members and leave your reviews. This is such an amazing tool for the learning filmmaker. You upload your film, get opinions on what worked and what didn’t, then you can correct the problems in that film or just have the knowledge not to make the same mistakes in the next.

It is so hard to find an audience that will look at your work objectively and give you an honest opinion, fortunately, TriggerStreet has made a community that does just that. The added bonus is, if your film gets enough good ratings from the advanced members you will automatically be entered into their online festival. The final three filmmakers get flown to LA to be in front of a panel of industry professionals! This years panel includes Jeff Goldblum, Sam Mendes and Robin Williams.

Also, they have recently added the option to upload your scripts, plays, novels and short stories to be reviewed by the community. If you do not have a membership (which is completely free) you should go sign up… NOW, and start getting opinions from someone other than your mom… Kidding again…

www.triggerstreet.com

-Ryan

Free Sound Effects and Music

The questions keep pouring in! Here is another one that I thought would be great for a blog:

“Do you know of anywhere I can get free sound effects? And background music for thrillers?”

-itssawyer

Have you ever watched a movie where the image quality wasn’t that great? If the story is good enough, within 10 minutes you’ll have adjusted to the image and stopped noticing it’s less than stellar quality. (A good example of this would be “Once”.) But now watch a film with bad audio. You will never adjust, and it will be an annoying experience from start to finish (Like “Miami Vice”… Though pretty much everything about Miami Vice was annoying.) For this reason I think sound is actually more important than the visuals. I’ve seen a ton of short or indie films that could have been pretty good, ruined by bad audio, cheesy sound effects and awful music.

When it comes to on-set audio, make sure you have a good shotgun mic, throw it on a boom poll and get it as close to the talent as the framing allows. And if you have the software, in post do a little ADR to tweak the parts that are less than perfect. (I know that wasn’t a part of the question, so… consider it a freebie.)

Sound effects aren’t only for action films! No matter what genre you are working in, sound effect are vital. If someone is walking, we should be hearing footsteps. Little add-ons with sound do a great deal to give your film “production value.” There are a ton of great FX library’s out there, unfortunately they can get pretty expensive. But if you look hard enough, there are places online that offer good sounds for FREE! Here are a couple:

http://www.soundsnap.com/

http://www.partnersinrhyme.com/pir/PIRsfx.shtml

Soundsnap.com is by far the best in my opinion. Their site is easy to use (unlike the others) and has some of the best quality of free sounds I’ve heard on the web.

If you are looking for music it is the same. There’s good stuff out there but for a price. Most royalty free music isn’t that good to begin with, so once you are looking for completely free stuff, it gets even harder to find anything of any value. But check out these sites, they have a few pieces of music that I think are worth the listen:

http://music.download.com/3607-8272-0.html?tag=MDL_browseAllNode

http://incompetech.com/m/c/royalty-free/

http://www.royaltyfreemusic.com/

I hope this helps. When it comes to sound effects and music, I think it’s best to do all original. But if you don’t have the capacity to create Foley or compose music, I think these are great alternatives.

-Ryan

How to get a cast and crew

We had another question on YouTube that asked:

“How can I get a cast and crew that is willing to work for very little or no money?”

Abraham T.

There is a very simple answer for getting crew... friends and family! They might not know anything about filmmaking, but they are willing (and this is the important part) to work for free. I’ve shot a few short films where everyone on the crew had never stepped foot on a set or gone to film school, with the exception of myself and my partner. Before shooting I met with each person that had agreed to help, and taught them how to do the job I needed them for. Really, (for a no-budget film) the only jobs on set that need someone with experience is the Director, DP and the Cam Op (which is typically the same person as the DP). Another great idea is to talk to film schools in your area and see if any of the students would be interested in working for experience/credit.

But if you don’t want to go that route and would rather use experienced people, you’re going to need a great script or past work that shows your talent. If you have one of those two… or both, go and post the open positions you are looking for on these sites:

http://www.craigslist.com/

http://www.mandy.com/

http://www.productionhub.com/

There are a lot of sites like these. But I’ve gotten the best results from the above three. Also if you don’t mind spending the $100 I would suggest getting an IMDBpro account.

http://www.imdbpro.com/

IMDBpro is another great avenue to find other filmmakers and stay up-to-date with all the industry news.

Actors are a totally different story. There are a ton of aspiring actors and actresses out there itching to get work to build their resume. The down side, however, is that 80% of them are not good. So you will have to go through the painful task of sifting through the bad to find the good.

Good places to post for a casting call would be:

http://www.actorsinfobooth.com/

http://www.exploretalent.com/

http://www.craigslist.com/

http://www.mandy.com/

http://www.imdbpro.com/

You can also contact all the acting schools and drama groups in your area... just Google it.

Also remember, no matter who you are trying to get to work on your film, be it family, friends or people you don’t know, you have to get them excited about the project. No one wants to work on a boring film that is going nowhere. But if you can convince them that it will be something great with much potential, then you will be able to get all the help you need.

I hope this helped. We will be talking more about casting in one of the upcoming episodes of “Making the Film.”

Ryan

Script writing website

Check out the below article from creativescreenwriting.com

Zhura is a new screenwriting and community website that utilizes Creative Commons licenses (Go here for an explanation of creative commons) to enable amazing avenues for online collaboration between screenwriters. Although creative commons licensing works is optional (you have the ability to write and share works privately), the “public” area of Zhura allows screenwriters to collaborate on projects they would have never been a part of otherwise. The possibilities are vast and unprecedented, ranging from an independent filmmaker making a noncommercial adaptation of someone else’s treatment to community fueled script collaborations. Meaning you can post your script and have others critique it for you.

From Zhura:
“Zhura provides the most advanced online screenwriting tool in the industry, plus the ability to connect with the global writing community. On Zhura, you can work privately on your own projects, collaborate in private with your friends, or collaborate with the global public community.”

Membership is free and members may choose to work in any or all three of the ways listed above. However, it is in the “Public” area of the site which Zhura has adopted Creative Commons. When members create a “Script”, they are required to answer two questions: 1) Allow commercial use of your work? and 2) Allow modifications of your work? And based on their answers to these questions a Creative Commons License is assigned. From this “Create Script” page, as well as from within any Public Script that has been created, members can jump directly to your Creative Commons site for more information.

http://www.zhura.com/

-Cameron Parkins

This is a great way to get feedback on your writing. Of course, make sure you copyright your stuff before you ever let anyone read it and especially before you post it online!

-Ryan

Two-Face Clip From The Dark Knight!

Two-Face Clip From The Dark Knight! from TELL on Vimeo.

I Can't wait for this movie!!!

-Ryan

Film School or Film Festivals

We had a question from Michael on YouTube, he asked:

“Now that I feel I am very comfortable doing some advanced visual effects I'm going to put my focus on making some short films to be entered into film festivals. Can I get noticed doing short films and possibly end up skipping the film school thing all together? Or would I have to have a successful feature to get noticed.”

Firstly, if you are going to be focusing on film festivals, make sure the emphasis for your film is on the story. Special effects are tools to tell a story and should never overshadow or take the place of a good plot and interesting characters.

With that said, it is possible to get noticed by entering your short film into festivals. I’ve heard of many directors and writers getting their start using this method. Jonathan Liebesman (the director of Darkness Falls and Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning) was first noticed by Ron Howard after he won the Austin Film festival for his film “Genesis and Catastrophe.” Click here to check out his film. After that he was able to get an agent and finally land his first gig helming “Darkness Falls.” However, he did attended film school at NYU, which is where he shot his award-winning short film.

Although nothing is impossible, I do think that without some kind of training, be it an apprenticeship or film school, you’ll have a much harder time constructing a film that would gain festival praise and launch your career. But I don’t want to be discouraging; I truly believe that if you are passionate enough about something you can accomplish it. So if you don’t have the money for film school, go out and get every book you can on the subject, become a sponge and soak up every bit of info you can get your hands on. A great magazine to subscribe to for tips and tricks is Student Filmmaker Magazine:

http://www.studentfilmmakers.com/

Also, click on these links for some great books:

Writing

Cinematography

Directing

Editing

Start with writing, because if you don’t have a story you don’t have anything. Also, remember the internet is your best friend, with sites like AtomFilms.com, TriggerStreet.com, YouTube.com, Vimeo.com, etc… These sites can be a great help in getting your name out there.

Thanks again to Michael for the question. His YouTube name is AAEuser, so go check out his stuff.

-Ryan

Interview with David Koepp

Great news! For our first episode of “Making the Film,” we will be interviewing David Koepp (the writer of Spider Man, Panic Room, Mission Impossible and most recently Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.)

We thought it’d be great to ask him the questions you guys would like to see answered, so if you have something you’d like us to ask Mr. Koepp, post it in the comments of this blog and we will add them to our list of questions.

P.S. Only screenwriting questions please.

-Ryan

The new RED camera:

I don't know if you've heard, but RED announced their new cameras at NAB a while ago. Check out RED.com

The camera is called "Scarlet," and is a downgraded version of RED ONE. It's a 3K camera, which means the horizontal pixel count will be at 3,000 or above. To put that in perspective, the newest Canon and Sony HD cams (XL-H1 and EX1), at their highest settings shoot at 1920.

The great thing about this camera is unlike the RED ONE (which goes for $17,000 for the camera body alone), the Scarlet, once released, will be going for under $3,000! Of course after that you'd have to buy all the accessories, but it's worth it for such an amazing camera.

http://www.red.com/nab/scarlet

Check out the video below for more info on the scarlet and other products they annouced at NAB.

-Ryan

Explosions and Car Wrecks

Hey Guys,

We had a question asked under our first blog that says:

“Ok. What are your suggestions for say a car wreck or explosion? Is there any way at all to accomplish that cheaply? Also, what would be some easy ways to get locations?”

This is such a great question that I thought I’d answer it in a new blog post. So thank you to Grebanahs for the question. . . And on to the post. . .

In my opinion, short of a possible arrest and hospital visit (both of which would make great behind the scenes footage), The only way for us low/no-budget filmmakers to pull off an explosion or car wreck is pure creativity. Instead of showing the event, use sound, clever editing, lighting and your actor’s reactions to fool the audience into believing what you want them to. If you do it well enough your audience won’t even recognize the trick, they'll be too wrapped up in your story to stop and think about it.

For example: If you want to blow up a house... Show the bomb ticking down, then your actor running out of the house, then your actor running away with the house now out of the frame. Then use a bright light flashing to simulate the burst of fire that we now believe is exploding the house just out of our sight. Add a great sound effect and some flying debris to really sell the effect. A car crash would be the same principle. Show everything up until the point of impact, then sell the rest using sound effects and reactions.

But if you really want to show it and have a little money to spend, try looking through a footage library like this one:

http://www.buyoutfootage.com/pages/col.html

There are some great free tutorials that will take you step by step showing you how to achieve different effects. This is by far my least favorite choice, because unless you are amazing at After Effects (and lets face it, most of us aren’t), the effect will look fake, which will then discredit your film and pull the audience out of the moment.

As far as locations go, most of the time if you just ask enough places/people, you will be able to find a location that you can use for free. Your best bet is to go for locally owned stores, restaurants or whatever it is you're looking for. Tell them you'll give them a producer’s credit or something. :) Big chains are really hard to get, there is a lot of red tape and insurance protocol they would have to go through to let you film there. So unless you can offer something in return, odds are they are going to say no.

But, at a low/no-budget level the locations should really be known before you even write the script. In other words, write a story around the resources that are already available to you. So if your mom owns a flower shop, write a story or scene with that location in mind.


Hope this helped,
-Ryan

P.S. I keep getting emails asking when the first episode will be up. We are almost finished with it and will be posting as soon as we possibly can.

Get involved!

Intro from TELL on Vimeo.

Triune is working on our next short film, which is a thriller called “TELL” and will prove to be our longest and most challenging film yet. So we thought it would be great to do production blogs cataloging how we accomplish a film with such low resources. But rather then guessing on the topics you’d like to see, or the questions you’d like answered, we thought it be best to just leave that up to you. So we’ve started this blog and we’d like to invite you guys to leave a question you’d like see answered or a certain job you’d like to see covered more closely. Anything from pre to post production, just start posting it up and we will do our best to answer all your questions.

Also check out our MySpace and YouTube.

-Ryan