Week 8 EOC: The Importance of the Producer

According to the book “A producer supervises and controls the film project.”  This has been true on all the sets I have worked on so far.  Small or large budget, the producer tends to over see “cast and crew to overseeing the technical, logistical, and financial aspects of the production.”  They are constantly keeping track of all the paperwork and daily production.

When referring to small films, the producer may play a much greater roll.  They may end up dealing with more creative contributions with the script.  The producer and director will often sit down and work collaboratively so many issues with script and filming can be worked out.  They may be responsible for location scouting.  They may be responsible networking and advertising.  They may even play the roll as an executive producer, and front cash for the production. 

On sets I have been on, I have often produced.  The work I would be responsible for would range from networking, finding sponsors, paperwork, storyboards, script writing and script breakdowns, equipment list, hiring crew and actors, etc.  I have taken a load of responsibility for each production I have made due to the lack of additional support.  This can hurt a production unless I take the time, which just makes things take longer than it should.  In the event I ever find a proper executive producer, I would be dumbing down my responsibilities and focusing more on my preparations and Directing.  Eventually, I’d like to co-produce, handling more of the conceptual development, and stick with the directing of everything I work on.  Assuming of course I am not camera guy on another persons’ set.

-Quotes from “The Pocket Lawyer for Filmmakers”

Week 7 Photo Challenge of the Week: Screen Play Cover

This is the screenplay title page of my short film "One Minute Pitch."  The story is about a young man working his way up a production studio.  He gets many chances to pitch an idea to the producer of his building, but each chance is interrupted, potentially costing him his big promotion.  Then, after he has been working there a while and achieved some status without taking any shortcuts, he gets one last chance to pitch an idea, when the final interruption came from the Producer himself, asking him for a meeting out of respect for the young man's hard work. 

The whole premises is based off of the traditional story of having an elevator pitch ready in case you meet that one person who can change your career for the better.  You have 60 seconds to pitch the idea and you must do it professionally without sounding needy, desperate, over ambitious, or greedy.  Practicing an introduction is a good way of preparing for a solid delivery of your idea, even if the idea isn't so good.  At least you won't come off sounding like an idiot with no manors.

This is an important script to me because it is my first ever script that has been shot.  I have written several scripts before this, however none of them went into actual production.  During the production, I learned quite a bit about the process of making a movie and the importance of a good crew.  Since I had many people flake out of the shooting, it was difficult to produce quality work.  I saw first hand how important it is to make sure the team you work with understands it is a team effort, and that all the hard work is for everyone, not just for the person who wrote the script.  Although I managed to create something decent, I still realize how armature it was.  The creativity remained to be seen, however, even if it wasn't the best quality, and it was a good (and confirmational) start to my filming career.

Week 7 EOC: What is your opinion of Optimal Resume?

Week 7 EOC: What is your opinion of Optimal Resume?

I used Optimal Resume twice so far and I think it works well.  I like how it breaks down the material for you and shows you what a good example is before you have to start making one yourself.  You get to visually see that good example and base your own wording and layout off of it.  There are some issues with examples I’ve seen, however, as to go over why you would or would not doing something.  I like to know why I work on things and set things up the way they need to be.  Optimal Resume doesn’t often go over the reasons for layouts or wording. 

Other than that, it is a good tool for even professionals.  

Week 6: Photo Challenge of the Week: Special Effects

This is a picture I took a couple years ago.  It is a Porches 911 posing at the Pahrump, NV race track, Spring Mountain Motorsport Ranch.  I was on set producing my first ever promo video for myself, showing off my connections, talents, and having fun watching the rich race around the track in expensive cars (they didn't know how to drive).  It was lots of fun!

The picture is slightly edited.  The original was washed in a gray from the camera RAWs, so the first thing I had to do was determine the colors.  This is important because many posing pictures will obscure colors for "artistic appeal."  For example, gray scaling everything, or over emphasizing certain colors over others.  I chose to keep it as original as possible since the balance of the shot was well taken overall.  Also, the colors in the background do not conflict with those of the vehicle.  In fact, I felt the contrasting sky was a perfect backdrop and no re-coloring was necessary.

I increased the curves and levels slightly to emphasize the shadows and darks.  I kept the background a bit grayer then the rest of the image.  I then went in and selected just the reds and increased the saturation and emphasized a more brilliant/deep red, pending on the shadows.  I took out some reflections by blurring them out selectively to avoid unnecessary conflicting images.  I brightened, then darkened the blue sky a bit to emphasize a deeper blue.  One thing I don't like about the Southern Nevada area is the lack of a true blue sky.  It always seems to be washed out a little.  So I fixed that. 

Once the levels were set, color was corrected, and the car was in good balance with the rest of the image, I ended up putting up a vignette lighting around the image to imitate some of the more expensive lenses out there.  I also did this to bring a more pressured focus on the subject at hand.  As a result, I get an image capable of being put in a magazine. 

Week 5 - Photo Challenge of the Week: Directors Chair Photoshop

First, I took a picture of myself and made sure the face was clearly shown.  Higher the resolution the better.  I decided to use a past picture of myself from the CES convention since it was a bit more clear than the ones I had readily available. 

Second, I opened up Photoshop.  I imported two pictures.  The one from CES, and the second picture is the one I am photoshopping my face into.  The picture is kind of low resolution, but it will suffice. 

Third, I took the CES photo and cut out my face.  I used the polygon lasso tool and went around the shape of my head.  I then copied what was selected and pasted on a separate layer.  This enables me to edit just the face and adjust it at will without changing the background. 

Fourth, I sized it and fitted it into the hat.  Made sure I was in the correct position for the facial replacement and kept a good size.  I then used the lasso tool, again, to create the shape of the hat.  Make sure you are in the layer with the hat, not the face.  I cut out a shape of the hat with the tool and then clicked back to the face tool, then clicked "Delete."  This cut out the shape of the hat out of the face.  Not a perfect fit, but then again the face isn't looking the direction it is supposed to. 

NOTE:  You may or may not need to do this, but I had to take the selection from step four and feather it by going to Select > Modify > Feather > 2 pixels.  This helped soften the edges so it more naturally blended into the hat.  With a good cut, you may not need to do this.  Once feathered, then delete. 

Fifth, this step is color correction.  The first thing I did was change the exposure.  I actually increased it by quite a bit.  The reason is simple, the picture I was setting it to was quite exposed and much brighter than the picture my face came from.  I then toned it a bit by messing with the curves.  Made the darks a bit darker, little more contrasty.  Slight touch up in the saturation to make it a bit grayer and I finished it. 

Week 5 EOC: Progress towards my Four Professional Contacts and Progress on Networking

For the business cards I had to obtain, I pretty much just looked up my needs online.  I would search for somebody relatively close by and call them.  I asked a few questions about what they do and what they offered.  Since price wasn’t an issue at the time, I didn’t ask any money questions, but know I would have to in the future.  After that I agreed on who I felt to be the best choice, walked down (everything was actually within a ¼ mile walk from my residence) and grabbed the cards.  A couple people I said ‘hello’ to, but for the attorney I just walked in and grabbed a card. 

My networking progress has been going well.  Since my job requires me to attend a ton of events, such as CES or red carpet coverage, I am able to meet many people.  Although nothing has really lead me anywhere yet, I expect that upon graduation, and upon me starting my own production books for my scripts, I will be able to make phone calls to these people and see what they can do for me and the film.  I am attending and filming the up and coming Film Festival in Boulder City, NV so there is another event I will be networking at.  Looking forward to that, because I’d like to start focusing on my filming career now and not just paying bills.  

Week 4: Photo of the Week Challenge

This is the movie poster for Week 4's Photo of the Week Challenge.  It is a short film I produced and directed a couple years ago.  It is quite possibly the most important film of my life because this was the very first film I have ever made.  It marked the beginning of my actual career in the film industry.

The movie is called "One Minute Pitch" and follows the life of a young man and his career at a production house.  It starts off with him being hired on as "low man on the totem poll" status.  He is a P.A., or runner, the kind of position that has you running around doing all the grunt work.  He meets his first chance to move up in the world when the Producer of the studio house steps into the elevator with him.  Unfortunately, another gentleman riding the elevator ruins the young man's chances and he misses his once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.  Following the story you see the main character miss out once again, each time, bringing him down as though he missed out.  With the conclusion of the story riding on his decision to pitch his ideas and try and take the fast road to the top, the Producer strikes first and offers the opportunity he was waiting for based on the irony of the young man's missed moments.  It is short, has a bit of comedy, and most of all, a successful project. 

Working on this project taught me a lot.  I Produced, Directed, Edited, Filmed, Lit, and did half the audio for the whole show.  It was extremely rough because the lighting and audio guy didn't show up leaving me to do everything on my own.  It showed me the importance of a reliable team.  It also showed me one of the many ways a movie can suffer.  All in all though, once it was done, I had fun and realized it was one of the things I really want to do in my future.

Week 4 EOC: Executive Summary

Week 4 EOC: Executive Summary

Team Tora Productions is a production company that wishes to reinvent the wheel.  We want to take car reviews, promotional videos, documentaries, narratives, even reality TV shows to the next level in the automotive industry. 

Starting with the reviews, Team Tora Productions will start marketing to dealerships in order to create content that can be used on a variety of levels.  This is the immediate goal.  That content will be given free rights of the edited video only to dealerships to be used however they wish, as long as we get 10% of whatever they make on those videos.  In addition to this.  We will be paid for the production itself.  The opportunity for dealerships to advertise these videos allows them to be potentially profitable, making it both a cost and an investment.  In addition, we will re-edit the footage for our own website, offering more entertainment driven content to our viewers opening up our own financial opportunity with advertising and sponsors. 

From here, Team Tora Productions plans to create a Reality TV show about racing.  Already, this production has begun in Northern Las Vegas.  Sponsorships have been obtained for paying off the costs of the cars used in the pilot season.  However, that isn’t enough to cover the full idea.  In all, we estimate only about 60% of the show will be properly portrayed due to budget restrictions.   By obtaining another sponsor, this would open the door to the second half of the production, covering a whole aspect of the racing industry never before covered. 

Upon completion of the pilot season, Team Tora Productions will remain busy by working towards the documentary planned.  There is a significant amount of travel involved with this production and costs will be relatively high.  Carrying around crew, equipment, food, and networking will jack up the cost of production, even after we sat down and cut every corner we could cut.  There is simply no getting around the hefty travel expenses.

© Robert Haney 2012