Hello Ben and thank you for taking the time to talk with Lights Film School blog readers about your two most recent projects “The Reformed Troglodyte” and “The Gentleman Shaver“.

Both of these two shorts are branded shorts sponsored by theartofshaving.com. Let’s take a look at “The Reformed Troglodyte” first:

Many people may not know this, but your short film “Apricot” was also a branded short. Can you tell me a little bit about the differences in the relationship between yourself and the companies from these two projects (Art of Shaving vs. Apricot).

Apricot was a filmmaker’s fund that was sponsored by a brand. The company was interested in supporting a filmmaker with an aesthetic that they like and related to and put their support behind it. A little similar to what Absolute did with Spike Jonze’s short ‘I’m Here’. It was creatively my concept, script and execution. Gentleman Shaver and Reformed Troglodyte are fairly different situation, as I didn’t write them. They were developed by the great team at BBDO NYC and I was brought on board to bring them to life. This structure is much more akin to the typical commercial process. With the Art Of Shaving films, there was a much more hands on approach from those who were investing in the project. Perhaps that is the difference between working in USA and France.

It seems to me that there is some potential for some interesting bridges to be built between the two worlds of short fiction filmmaking and advertising.

Companies that are sponsoring these shorts don’t want their product placement to be too subtle or hidden, but filmmakers don’t simply want to “sell out” by filming a product under a soft-box and throwing a commercial jingle in the background. These ads are somewhere in between those two extremes.

You made a really great point, during one of your other interviews with us when you mentioned that your philosophy is to “point at” the realities of your filming environment. When I watched “The Gentleman Shaver”, you made it clear that it was a shaving product branded short. I didn’t get the impression you were trying to hide that. However, with “The Reformed Troglodyte” the shaving component of the film, although it was present, was not as pronounced as in “The Gentleman Shaver”. Can you tell me how these two films work as one? There seemed to be a totally different narrative approach to both films.

They were simply written that way before I came to them. I think there is a huge danger in these sorts of projects and I am not keen to do them unless I feel like they are being done for the correct reasons. People shouldn’t think of them as 5 minute commercials, because they simply can’t be that. The story telling still needs to be the top priority and if it isn’t, then the project becomes very bland and dull to watch. I have worked on those projects when the aim changes mid stream and it never ends up successful for anyone. I wouldn’t say Gentleman Shaver is product or brand specific, in fact you never really get a decent look at the product at all. It is simply a story taking place around the ritual of shaving. There is no lingering or huge close up of a sparkling razor blade. That would really be pointing the finger at it! Reformed Troglodyte has more of a character arc, more locations and spans a greater length of time so if feels quite different to Gentleman Shaver.

Great point. Thank you. Next, when you start to work on these projects how collaborative and open is the process when working with a company? When you start work on a project like this and you meet the people from the company sponsoring these branded shorts, do you get the impression they are worried that a filmmaker may go too “auteur” with the short? Did you feel you needed to put them at ease letting them know you would be respectful to their desired outcome?

I’ve never met anyone from the brand for any of the project’s that I have completed to date. That is usually managed by my production company producers or the creative agency involved. Sure there is sometimes a push from someone for it to be more like some commercial, but when you do it and show them it the edit it is usually pretty obvious that it ruptures the integrity of the short film world that you are creating. Like anything, sometimes it is a challenge but if they are intelligent and smart people you can be very respectful and explain why you want to do it and they are happy to trust you. On some upcoming collaborations for potential projects I am looking at for 2012 I have met directly with the company, they have actually been craving the creativity and filmic qualities for their projects. You have to pick your battles and I have had meetings where both myself and a brand have realized that we are not right for what each other’s creative visions would be for the project, so you simply don’t do it. If you establish what you do, then people seem to come to you for that thing.

From the company’s standpoint, why do you think a company would rather go this route than a regular 30 second advertising spot?

It’s another way to connect with their audience. It delves into the ideas and philosophy of the company in a rich way that 30 seconds simply can’t. Your emotions are much more alive and stimulated.

Do you feel there is a potential shift in the overall advertising world towards more narrative ads? Do you feel that this is a better way to reach audiences?

It has always gone in waves. The same thing happened in music videos that is now happening in fashion films. Narrative comes and goes depending on what the audience’s current tastes are and what the technology facilitates. The role of Vimeo.com and YouTube has a lot to do with the emergence of current narrative based advertising, the same way MTV had a lot to do with the boom in music videos.

Let’s talk a little more about the specifics of “The Reformed Troglodyte”.

Let’s start by talking about your choice of typography. What inspiration did you draw from to come to this choice?

Ha! That wasn’t my choice. But I liked it. It was masculine, strong and had a nostalgic throw back.

You’ve managed to find spectacular locations for these shorts. How long did it take you to location scout these properties? Did you have the help of the sponsors in securing or looking for these locations? For example I love the wide shot at :09 you opened the film with.

The locations were all found, managed and secured by my USA production company The Institute (http://www.theinstitute.tv/index.php).

I landed in L.A. after flying in from Australia, had a shower, wound my body clock back 15 hours and began looking at locations in the car with my great producer on the job, Kati Haberstock. She knows the town very well and listened closely to what I was wanting to achieve. I am quite specific and vague at the same time when looking for locations so it can be time consuming. I am searching for a ‘feeling’ in the location. This might be found in the architecture, surrounding hills or choice of wall paper. Over 4 days I looked at dozens of file images from a location scout and we drove around looking at them.

Sorry. I know you probably get this question all of the time. But filmmakers are curious and need to know the answer to this question…What camera and lenses were used?

Oddly, that is the most common asked question I get asked. Which I find strange, because it would be one of my last. I guess I am always drawn to the more philosophical and thematic questions for filmmakers. But I certainly don’t mind. On Gentleman Shaver and Troglodyte we shot on the Arri Alexa with Cooke Lenses. Eigil Bryld (DOP) had previously shot some commercials with Al Pacino using digital technology that looked great in black and white. Take a look at it below:

I wanted to nod to the qualities of 1960′s black and white film image, shooting 16mm was out of our budget range, so we tried a few things to get an interesting look. I didn’t want to simply desaturate the image in post and call it ‘black and white’. Eigil used sepia and lime coloured filters to create a monochromatic image that captured a lot of mid-tone detail.  In post we drained saturation from the image. Then I wanted the black’s to be crushed so that the shadow detail was lost. Following this, I raised those crushed blacks so that it was actually a milky grey rather than true black. Lastly an over all sepia tint was subtly added. Old film prints transferred to different formats a few times seemed to get a color (either blue or sepia) creep into them over time. I wanted to try and give a healthy nod to that aesthetic whilst keeping other aspects modern.

How much did you light these shorts vs. using natural lighting? You seem to be a filmmaker with a great eye for natural light. This might be a weird question, but tell me a little bit more about your relationship to the sun.

Life doesn’t give you a nice back light on your head and some soft fill, so I don’t like the way over lighting looks on screen. I don’t quite understand my relationship to the sun, but natural light plays a huge part in driving the narrative. I believe you can advance the emotions of the story by miles with a shot of the light doing something particular versus pages of dialogue. I don’t know how to explain it, maybe I never will, but I am definitely aware of it. I think it came from years of teenage and university film making where we didn’t have many resources, just a couple of blown out windows in the location. So I guess you learn how to make that something you can work with.

Gentleman Shaver was lit through the outside windows with a strong source and then some softer lights rigged above the actors just out of frame. But it was all to simulate natural light in the morning. Reformed Troglodyte was very basic too. Very few lights, mostly bouncing some light around with boards. I really wanted that one to look very unpolished as far as lighting and camera work goes, yet the world itself such as the cars, suits and architecture to be very considered. That was what I loved about Godard and the French New Wave films, everyone was dressed impeccably, yet there was minimal lighting and the camera work was very raw.

Let’s talk about cinematography and design for a moment. I love the shot at :27 (above). I see the vertical lines in the wood panel wall. And I see the strong diagonal lines of the mirrors caused by the camera position. How closely do you work with the cinematographer to draw out these design elements? How collaborative is the director / cinematographer relationship?

I get a strong idea of camera position and the design elements on a location scout. I don’t want to waste time on the shooting day and I need to have a plan before entering the shoot. But then I when the DOP gets involved at the tech scout stage I always want to listen to their suggestions. Often they will listen to what the elements are that I like about that angle I have chosen and sometimes take that and run with it for a while, searching for other angles. Then they come back with some suggestions that might improve on those elements that I originally liked. In the end it is just about hunting for good images that fit our storytelling correctly. This happens often in limited time, so there is no place for preciousness. It also is very important that you have similar tastes to your DOP. You want to make sure they don’t want to do some crazy shot in the middle of the world that you created which doesn’t reflect the personality of you or the film.

You have some great hand-held work. Not just in this short, but in your previous work as well. There is a very subtle and gentle “feather” to the edges of your frame. It stops the image from feeling too static but Eigil Bryld (the cinematographer for the short) controls the camera enough that it doesn’t appear chaotic or messy either. What are you using to stabilize the camera and what, if any, movement techniques are you using to get that gentle feathered look?

The ‘feather’ as you call it seems to put some people off and others really like it. I find you can really feel the personality of the DOP in their handheld work. On Troglodyte and Gentleman Shaver, Eigil Bryld was the Cinematographer. He is a very sweet Danish guy who’s demeanor isn’t chaotic messy, so therefore his work isn’t. He used a simple tennis ball on top of the tripod to rest the camera on for a few of those shots. It just gives a bit of rock and looseness to the frame with out making it hectic. Other than that, it is simply his steady hand and shoulder. I don’t do much ‘feathering’ or windowing to the image in grade for my work. In fact on these black and white shorts I didn’t want any.

How much of your sound came from the actual environment and how much was re-designed from the ground up?

Gentleman Shaver is pretty much how it was recorded on the day. Just volumes enhanced and diminished later.

As for Troglodyte, it just depended on what the quality of the real audio was. I like to over drive some of the more simple elements of my sound design at times. It is just a cinematic thing I like to do. So often basic things like footsteps or engine roars will be there, but i like them loud to emphasis that this is a kick ass car and our character is heading somewhere definite. My editor on the project Michael Saia at Jump (http://www.jumpny.tv/) had a big hand in the design of the audio, which was great because he knew the genre inside out.

Can you tell me specifically about a few sounds. Which ones were added and which ones were actual?

Footsteps at 1:09? (getting into car) – Added

Birds? (driving scene) – Added

Car? (driving scene) – Actual

Atmospheric sound? (on the cliff) – Added

You had a great team for these shorts. For these shorts you worked with costume designer Amy Westcott (Black Swan) and Production Design by Kiki Giet (Mark Romanek music videos). In our previous interviews you talked about how happy you are when you have design and wardrobe departments working closely together helping you achieve a really cohesive look. Can you tell me a little more about your relationship to these departments and their relationship to each other?

I like to have production design on board from a very early stage and with these shorts Kiki Giet was with me from the first day of location scouting. There is a bond that seems to form when you are driving around in hot cars looking at locations. We would just talk ideas, about what we liked or didn’t like at each location and got on the same page as each other pretty quickly. Coming from a music video background Kiki was really resourceful. She brought so much propping to the films that I was spoiled with choices in some instances. But like all my work, I always look for the inherent qualities in a pre-existing location which the aesthetic can resonate from. The references for the shorts is a much loved aesthetic that you rarely get the chance to do, so Kiki really ran with it. Amy Westcott was someone whose work I have admired for a while and loved that she put herself forward for the films. When working with someone at that level, you can talk to them in creative short hand and they just get it. She brought little touches to the films that really elevated it; the fabric of the suit, the style of undone bow tie. She had worked on Entourage, so she was clearly fairly familiar with how to dress men. Overall, there wasn’t so much of a dialogue between those departments as I usually have, but hopefully the vision was strong enough that they feel cohesive.

For filmmakers interested in getting into this line of work how do you approach companies or have them approach you? You worked with BBDO New York (A very prestigious ad company) for these projects. Can you tell us a bit more about your relationship to them and how they factor into the equation?

That is about getting representation. My production company in the USA signed me for commercial work and they had the relationship with BBDO NYC. It is their job to try and generate work from agencies and brands that might fit your profile. To get signed with a company, do the research on the ones that interest you and show ‘em ya reel! You want to make sure their personality suits your own. If you work together and generally everyone is happy then chances are you will do it again on another project and those relationships build!

Thanks for the in-depth interview Ben. As always it’s a pleasure to share your work with our blog readers. Please keep us posted with regards to your future projects!

Ben Briand

http://www.benbriand.com/

Twitter

http://twitter.com/ben_briand

TRANSCRIPT:

Welcome to the Lights Film School video tutorial on the 180 degree rule and other shot sequencing tips. But before we begin we’d like to take a moment to show you our lighting setup for this tutorial. We always like to do this to remind you that you don’t need a truckload of lights and equipment to create strong compositions and well lit shots. Here we have a wide shot showing our scene. In this shot we’re only using two lights. We have an overhead practical light exposing our main character and a small kino flo in the background acting as a “rim light” and giving our background a bit of texture.

Here is how it looks in a medium shot with a third light located behind the curtain turned on. Now we’ll show you one by one what each light is doing. We’ll turn our rim light off so you can see specifically what it accomplishes in this scene…. Now we’ll turn it back on… It’s intensity is a bit too “hot” so let’s turn it back down to ensure we don’t “blow out the whites” around our subject… There we go… We still have a nice highlight around our subject but now the bright areas of the frame have been tamed.
Now we’ll turn the light behind the curtain off. And now back on again.

Now we’ll turn off the overhead lamp above the main subject. As you can see we are left with nothing other than a little rim around the subject, some light behind the curtain and a small splash of light on our background. Not quite enough for a proper exposure so let’s turn our lamp back on… There we go.

Okay, so let’s get back on topic and discuss the 180 degree rule.

First, let’s establish our scene geography by creating our “line of action”. Let’s look overhead to see how we establish this line. Here we draw a line towards the subject and the person or object they are in communication with. In this case our subject is reading a piece of paper so let’s draw our line in this direction. The 180 degree rule states the the camera cannot jump the imaginary “line of action”. This helps ensure your scene direction stays consistent and you don’t disorient your audience.

Now let’s see how it looks on the ground if we break the 180 degree rule. Notice if we change the camera position from here…. to here.. the image reverses like this… and gives the impression that the subject is talking to himself. In “Shot A” he’s looking camera left and in “Shot B” he’s looking camera right. This disorients your audience which for the most part, and of course there are exceptions, but you’ll try to avoid.

There are cases when you can jump the line of action. The most common reason would be when you need to establish a new line of action because the area of action has changed. For example, imagine a large group of people standing in a circle engage in a conversation. Let’s imagine that character “A” and “B” start talking, but then Character “D” has something to say. In this case you may need to break your initial line of action to establish a new line of action. A “master shot” at the beginning of this sequence will help your audience orient themselves to your scene geography so once you start cutting they will know approximately where the actors are positioned.

Alternatively you can jump the line of action by doing the following things:

You can insert a shot with neutral screen direction in between the other shots. The insert shot helps bridge the shots where you crossed the line of action and it will soften the impact of the otherwise jarring transition between those shots.

Some people call “insert shots” “cutaway shots”. Either way these shots should have substance and help push your story forward and not simply be used as a technical tool to break the line of action.

You can also cross the line of action during a take. This way the audience stays oriented with the geography of the scene because they are moving with the camera.

Lastly, you can also use a visual “anchor” to help you provide a reference point within your scene. For example, imagine two men standing stranded on an island. On one side of them is open ocean stretching for as far as the eye can see. On the other side of them might be dense, intimidating jungle. Again, as long as you establish a clear sense of scene geography during your master shot you may find you have more liberty to jump the line of action. That being said, if you don’t need to jump the line of action, you should try to avoid it.

What we’d like to explore now is a shooting and editing practice to help you add a little more dynamism to your shot sequences.

It’s often visually a little more interesting when you come back to a shot if there is a slight variation in it. It will often be the case that some emotional change or circumstance will motivate these visual changes. So let’s create a scenario. Lets imagine our character is face to face with his lifelong nemesis. Our character is reading his nemesis an incriminating transcript from a taped conversation from a few weeks ago. Our “shot A” establishes that our character is reading from a paper.

Notice that our “shot A” is a little bit “hot”. let’s turn down our rim light to tame the “burnt out” whites on the back of the subject’s head. That’s better.

Okay, now let’s start thinking about this shot. Why don’t we do two takes of the same shot from slightly different depth perspectives. Our first shot (Shot A) will be when our protagonist is going over the transcript for the first time. The second shot will be a close up “insert shot” showing the paper he’s looking at. The third shot will be when he looks up from the paper having discovered new information. For this third shot we want to be psychologically a little closer to the inner workings of our character so let’s punch in a little bit like this…. There…. That’s much better.

These shot choices and framing variations not only help you compliment the narrative thrust of your story, but they also ensure your editing and shooting style is dynamic and changing with your character rather than being static and lifeless. Remember, your camera needs to act as a sort of metaphor to things that are happening within your story.

Let’s run the scene once in a static fashion by keeping our shots A and C the same with an insert shot in the middle. this is how it will look.

Here we have shot A. Here we have shot B. And here we have shot C which is identical to shot A.

The shots side by side would look something like this:

But now, let’s change our “shot C” from our “shot A” to compliment the emotional change experienced within the scene. Again, here we have shot A. He’s looking through the transcripts for the first time. He finds a piece of information that troubles him. And so he hesitates.

We follow this up with “shot B” the “insert shot” when he looks down at the piece of paper.

Now as we come back to “shot C” he has new information he doesn’t yet know what to do with. He thinks… and thinks… The camera is positioned closer to him than it was in shot A to help bring the audience closer to the inner workings of his mind. This camera setup compliments the nature of the story better than the first camera setup did. The first example was far too static. The changes in the second example are subtle, but the impact is fairly dramatic. The shots side by side would look something like this:

Now let’s compare the two shot sequence options side by side.

Above is the more static example.

Below you’ll find the example that is much more dynamic.

Ricardo de Montreuil (twitter) redefines good worth ethic. At under 40 he’s already accomplished a slew of accomplishments ranging from being recognized by Cannes Lions advertising festival to having his most recent feature film “Mancora” selected by the prestigious Sundance Film Festival. Many of you will know him from his viral short film “The Raven” which can be seen below.

Ricardo de Montreuil was kind enough to chat with Lights Film School and our blog readers and give us insight into the mind of someone who’s successfully bridging the gap between indie ideology and studio production values.

You can find his short film “The Raven” accompanied by our in depth interview below. Enjoy.

The first question I would like to ask you is simply “how”. You’re only 37 years old and you’ve accomplished so much already in many different fields. You have experience in advertising and commercials, print, feature films, short films and music videos. Not only that but you’re also Creative Director at the NBC Universal channel mun2. You seem to be juggling a lot of balls at the same time. How do you manage to successfully multitask all of your different projects? There are a lot of filmmakers out there who are also currently working on their film projects while trying to balance other obligations as well. Can you give any advice to filmmakers looking to make the most of their time?

Well, first of all thanks for your kind words. Let’s say that one thing led to the other. Since I can remember I’ve always wanted to direct films, there was never a second option or back up plan for me. My parents realized that I was very serious about it and I was lucky enough that they were able to send me to study film in the states, right after I finished high school in Peru. I studied film and graphic design at the Savannah College of Art and Design

My first job during school was as Art Director for “Contents” magazine, an art magazine published in Savannah Georgia. The editor trusted me with redesigning the whole magazine, at the time I was a big fan of David Carson (Graphic design guru of the 90s and creator of “Raygun” magazine) so I tried to emulate his work. The magazine was featured in Print magazine and won a couple of awards. The cover featured Beck, it was a still of Marc Romanek music video “Devil’s Haircut”. That was the only issue I designed. The magazine stopped being published a couple of years ago, but it always amazed me that they never changed my design and always used the same grid, and after all these years it still looks good.

Thanks to that issue I was hired as a Marketing Art Director for MTV Latin America, based in South Beach, Florida. Because of my film degree, the Creative Director trusted me to direct a couple of small short films or vignettes (The original RAVEN)”. The two films came out great and I started directing promos for the channel on a regular basis. I ended up being Senior Art Director for the channel; I oversaw the brand from Mexico to Argentina for a couple of years. During that time I started directing music videos, which led to commercials, which led me to short films. The producer of my first short film liked the end result and asked me to direct a film, based on a Latin-American best seller called “La mujer de mi hermano”.

It was a small indie film, it costed of $400k. Somehow, before we finished editing, Fox picked the film for Latin America and Lions Gate picked the film for the US. The film performed great in most Latin-American countries and in the States had the biggest opening ever for a Spanish language film. But the studios wanted audiences to think that the project was a studio film and didn’t let us submit it to any festivals; I was only a director for hire, I had no vote.

In the mean time I went back to my job at MTV, when suddenly NBC offered me a job in Los Angeles, to re-launch a very damaged cable channel called mun2. The channel was targeted to young Latinos in the US. I had worked with MTV for 8 years maintaining a brand created by others; this was a great opportunity, to create a new brand from scratch. So I moved from Miami to Los Angeles. Due to “La mujer de mi hermano” I had agents at ICM who where trying their best to get me a film, while I was trying to prelaunch a cable channel from the ground, but I already knew what my next film was going to be.

I wanted to make a movie without compromises, a movie closer to me. I wanted to go to festivals, to have the experience I missed from “La mujer de mi hermano”. As a teenager I used to go surfing to a beach north of Peru called Mancora, the kind of place where you find people from all around the world escaping reality, looking for paradise. Mancora was the perfect setting for my next film.

So I shot it and it premiered in Sundance in 2008. I still remember the text message from the producer saying that we got in, I was having lunch, on a big table, filled with GE executives (As you may know NBC Universal used to be owned by GE) one of them was Jeff Immelt, GE’s CEO, and I couldn’t tell anyone! (I keep my TV work from my film work as far away as possible) they wouldn’t have cared less, so I contained all my excitement until the lunch was over.

“Mancora” did a year of festivals. We went to Edinburg, Sao Paulo, Stockholm, Mill Valley, Bergen, AFI, etc. It was one of the best experiences ever, being able to share your work with peers and audiences, in a fully creative environment.

I took that out of my system and decided to do what I originally intended to do when I came to the states, to direct the kind of films I love. As a Peruvian, I grew up watching a lot of European, Asian, as well as big Hollywood films. Growing up my idols where Ridley Scott, George Lucas and Steven Spielberg. They were the reason I was where I was at that moment, but nobody wanted to give that kind of movies to a guy that had only directed 2 dramas. That’s when I decided to make “The Raven”, a short film that could prove that I could direct action and effects.

I think than more than multitasking is keeping your eyes open for opportunities, looking for projects that keep you excited. As I mentioned earlier, one thing led to the other.

Next I’d like to ask you about the correlation between your recognition and the ease of continuing on with future projects. At this point in your career you’ve been recognized by some of the worlds most prestigious film festivals. Not only that, but 20th Century Fox also picked up your first feature film “La Mujer de mi Hermano”. As you mentioned, your second feature film “Mancora”was accepted into Sundance Film Festival. Lastly, I’m not sure if this is the icing on the cake or the cake itself but your first feature film was also one of the most successful films in Latin American exhibition history and it also broke US box office records for a Latin film. That’s not a bad debut! Have you found it substantially easier to get projects off the ground now than before you had this recognition? Do you have any advice to independent filmmakers at the start of their careers who haven’t had a break through project yet?

I believe that you have to go step by step. Start experimenting with short films, using different formats, learning about light, acting, editing, etc; the moment you have a great piece, people will recognize it and the phone will start ringing, probably not for the $100 million Hollywood blockbuster, but most likely for something bigger and better.

I believe in craft, I believe that the greatest artists were masters in their arts, and one can only accomplish that with experience. The better your craft is, the more people will want to work with you, and you will be able to surround yourself with artist that you like and that like your work; this will allow you to get access to a better crew, better equipment and to get better results. This is not a process that happens overnight (at least not to me) but through years of work, focus and dedication. And if you fail, don’t quit, those are the moments to refocus and look for the best opportunities out there.

You are plugged into the world of TV and because of your proven track record you are in a more likely position to receive funds for a project over someone who is new to the world of filmmaking. That being said, you still seem to have your hand in social networking and audience building activities. When I look at the Facebook page for “The Raven” I notice you have almost 5000 fans. Your Youtube video has over a quarter million views and your Vimeo video has close to a half a million views. How important is it for you to build your own audience? How active are you in this process?

This is going to sound bad, but I had no previous experience with viral promotion. “The Raven” was a phenomenon on its own; it was completely unexpected. Once we completed The Raven, I posted it on Youtube to share it with the team, so that they could watch the final product. That was on a Tuesday night, the following morning it had already 50 thousand hits, and it was getting more hits very fast. On Wednesday, I received several calls and emails from different Hollywood producers, by Thursday my agents told me that WB was sending an offer on Monday. That weekend The Raven was featured in Latino Review, Slash Film, Huffington Post, etc. It was insane. On Monday I received the offer from WB, I met wit them and I was ready to sign, when unexpectedly I received a call from my agents saying that Mark Wahlberg wanted to produce and star in The Raven. I met with Mark that week and we decided to partner. That following week we met with the heads of every studio in town, until it landed in Universal.

Justin Marks is writing the feature, and we hope to have the first draft ready in the following weeks.

You’re also working on a short film again called “Metal Soldiers”. Why are you going back to short format after working on successful features?

Back home in Peru, I used to watch the Robotech everyday after school. I’m a huge fan of that anime series and always thought that it could make one of the most amazing film trilogies ever. I found out that WB was making a film version of Robotech, so I requested a meeting with the producers through my agents; because of The Raven I was able to get the meeting and pitch my version, which they liked a lot. The down side was that they asked me to do a proof of concept, since it is a big property and they don’t want to take many risks. Metal Soldiers is a short I wrote a while ago and that I always had in the back of my mind, and that I’ve wanted to shoot for a while and this was the perfect opportunity to bring it to life.

Metal Soldiers was the prefect proof of concept for Robotech. We raised the money through Kickstarter, shot it and now it is in post production, and is looking amazing. I can’t wait to see it finished.

Your kickstarter campaign for metal soldiers was incredibly successful. You raised close to $10,000 for that film. What helped make this kickstarter campaign so successful? You had numerous small donations but you also had many of the larger pledges sell out as well.

Definitely it was The Raven that helped make our Kickstarter campaign successful. We were able to raise the money in a very short time and not because we received several pledges, but because we received a few substantial ones. Most of the pledges came from people interested in having a producer credit. They want their names associated with the project, assuming that it will receive the same attention as The Raven did.

Let’s talk specifically about “The Raven” now. When I was watching it I was reminded of the first feature film by George Lucas: THX 1138. You have this incredibly aggressive and violent police force yet they have these mechanical, soft, polite voices. The words and intonation thinly disguise the true violent nature of the beast. At one point a heavily armored police vehicle even says “Thank you for your cooperation. Have a wonderful day” after it mistakenly thought your protagonist was turning himself in. Was the automation of policing your jumping off point for this project? Was The Raven a sort of social response to something you were thinking about in the real world at the time?

We live in an extremely passive aggressive society, where people don’t say what they think because they are afraid of getting sued, to offend somebody or to be politically incorrect. We develop this amazing way to be in disagreement or to insult somebody by using very nice and polite words, which I find fascinating. At the same time we are living in a time where we are becoming more isolated. Everything is becoming more automated; we interact much more with machines than with other humans, and unless something happens we are destine to merge with our technology, to become one with it. I think that The Raven was a reaction against those feelings and showed a yearning to want to go back to when times were simpler. It was a way of rebelling against the system.

The Raven is a technically complicated short film. Your chase scenes not only require a strong sense of spatial continuity and logic, but they also required some stunts. How strongly did you storyboard for this short?

I storyboarded every shot and then I made and animatic with it, to make sure it worked. I had very little resources and a very limited time to shoot; there was very little room for improvisation and error.

What software were you using for most of your effects?

The Rumblers (the small flying police guards) and the Tanks (the large bipedal robots) were created using Lightwave. The watch-towers and the spy-spider were created using Maya. I used After Effects to composite them to the footage.

How long did “The Raven” take you to write?

Not long, probably a couple of days, but it had a couple of previous permutations. I based the short on a treatment I wrote for a feature a while ago; what took longer was figuring out what part of that story I wanted to bring to life.

How long did it take you to shoot?

Two days. Since most people worked for free, we had to shoot over a weekend.

How long did it take you to edit?

Editing didn’t take long, maybe 1 to 2 weeks at the most. Since everything was storyboarded it was not hard to put it together. Aaron Burns, our FXs supervisor was editing on set, so right after we finished shooting we had a rough edit.

The cinematography is amazing. Cinematographer Andres Sanchez did an amazing job. What was the Director / DOP relationship like on set?

Yes, he did some brilliant work. I particularly admired his fluid camera techniques. Andres and I have been working together for years, we started our professional careers simultaneously and working together. We know each other’s work well; so can communicate with very little words. He knows the kind of photography I like and I know what Andres can deliver; it is a very stress-free relationship. I think we make a very solid team.

Sound Designer Martin Seltzer did an incredible job of designing the soundscape for this film. Did you work with Martin before you started shooting or were the sound elements thought of only after you got the film shot?

Martin works for Filmosonido, a post-production company based in Chile associated with Technicolor. Martin did the audio for my film “Mancora”, so I knew the quality of his work. Martin was involved in the development of the project and read the script, watched the storyboards and animatics before shooting. I had a very clear idea of how I wanted everything to sound in the film, I think I gave Martin a very clear direction of what I had in mind and he did and amazing job executing it.

You did a great job of isolating your subject by using strong foreground objects. This also helped convey the feeling of “hiding” as well as helping you punctuate the visual effect of being in an already small ally. One of my favorite compositions in the film is actually at 4:18 (above). Chris Black is standing and behind him there is a beautiful diagonal line on camera left and a building with patterned windows that creates a strong sense of pattern in the background. Cluttered exterior shots can really hurt the sense of a strong production value for indie films. Yet, even though you shot downtown in cluttered alleys there still seems to be a strong sense of control and a good eye for the design and balance of your compositions. What were your visual considerations when you were picking these locations?

As I mentioned, I studied graphic design and I started my carrier as a graphic designer. Once your eyes are trained for composition and color it is hard not be conscious of it all the time. For me composition is key in telling a story. It defines how audiences will watch and perceive your shots, and helps you accentuating and hiding elements, depending on what you want to communicate in a certain moment.

You also did a great job of getting a strong sense of contrast in your shots. For example at 1:22 (above) I notice lots of interesting shadow which really gives your composition a strong sense of depth. I see this in most of your shots. I’m assuming you tried to shoot so you could get a nice balance of sun and shade, but when you’re shooting in alleys that wouldn’t leave you with much time. How did you deal with scheduling around the sun?

We couldn’t use many lights because we knew that it would slow us down, so we planned the shoot schedule around the position of the sun at a specific moments during the day, basically we constantly used the sun as our backlight and our fills were just reflectors.

Did you light any of your exterior shots with studio lights? What about your close up exterior shots?

We only used small lights for close ups and interior shots.

I notice from watching your behind the scenes trailer that you’re using flags to cut the light on your exterior shots. What were the main tasks the flags were accomplishing?

The flags were used to draw light away from the subject, to create contrast and volume.

You shot this on the Red Cam. Can you tell us a bit more about coming to that decision of using this camera? What does that camera offer you that other cameras can’t?

I think that even though RED doesn’t emulate perfectly film quality, in some occasions it is a great option. RED footage has almost an amber tint to it, it is subtle but it is characteristic of it. It has a rough look, which compliments post-apocalyptic and dystopian-future films amazingly well.

What lenses did you use?

I used Master Prime lenses. I’m a big fan of them, especially when used with the RED camera. I love their sharpness and the cinematic depth of field they create.

It was a complicate shoot. Did you get permits for shooting?

We couldn’t afford having our production to be suddenly shut down; so most of our budget went to city permits, parking permits, and food. Everybody was working for free; the least we could do is make sure the crew was fed and comfortable.

Can you tell us about your casting process for the film?

At the beginning I was looking for an actor and a stunt man to play Chris Black, until I watched a video online, which featured Victor Lopez showing his parkour skills. The clip had a small interview of Victor, he seemed very jaunty and his parkour was amazing. I told that to one of the producers of the short who contacted him. We sent Victor the script, he loved it and that was it, he was in. Victor is a great actor that can do his own stunts; he was the perfect combination to play The Raven.

You shot this film for $5000. You obviously prioritize your spending in a way that helps you achieve the most professional look for a fraction of the cost. What are some of the most important elements to invest in? What areas in big studio feature productions do you feel are financially bloated which gives you a creative edge as a resourceful indie filmmaker?

The reality is that I designed this short to the resources I had available. I knew exactly the crew and equipment I was going to be able to get, I knew their weakness so I tried to maximize their strengths. If there is one thing that will make a big difference quality wise in any production, are lenses. A lens is what makes a picture, not the camera.

Do you have any final words for our readership of ambitious independent filmmakers out there?

The secret to success is perseverance and the secret of failure is trying to please. Do what you love and what makes you excited and success will come. Please nobody but yourself, it is impossible to please everybody. There will always be people who will criticize your work, but there will always be somebody that will coincide with you. Filmmaking is about communicating, expressing yourself, and to do that you have to be honest and truthful to you and your audience.

The film along with our interview can be found below. Enjoy!

Before we begin I wanted to thank you both for sharing your insights into your film for our filmmaker audience.

Let’s talk about Chatter in its pre-production stages. Leo, you wrote the script. How many people did you have on board at the beginning and how long did it take you to write the script?

Chatter was really just one way of doing the opening scene of a project I wrote a couple of years ago. It didn’t take me long to write it, but I had to make a few adjustments along the way. In the beginning it was only myself and a story, I contacted Espen and he liked it. Together we found a way to make it happen on a very limited budget. I did most of the work when it came to the locations and the actors while Espen did most of the work when it came to camera and equipment.

Espen, the opening shot is beautiful (above). You really start out with a visually powerful composition. This opening shots gets my interest right away. Can you tell us how you lit that shot? What rig was your camera on to stabilize the shot?

This was actually the last shot we did on the film. We (Leo and myself) thought this would be a nice way to start the film, with something visually interesting while introducing the main character. This staircase was just outside the door of our main location, witch was an old wooden house in Ålesund, on the west coast of Norway.

The camera is on a jib and it is lit from below with two 800w tungsten lights bounced off the wall and ceiling.

Espen, how are you lighting the shot at :51 (above)?

This shot is lit with one 800w shot through some white de-fusion in the kitchen, one 800w with a softbox shot up in the ceiling in the hallway and one dedolight with some blue gel in the ceiling of the bathroom.

What camera was Chatter shot on?

We used the Red One camera, at 24fps and 180 degree shutter. The film is shot at 4.5K 2.35:1.

When you were starting out to make the film how did you guys agree on the look of the film? What was the Director / Cinematographer relationship like during the pre-production stages?

Leo: Our main focus was to see if we could make something scary. We had a great location and great actors so Espen and I spent a lot of time on the main location trying to figure out how we could use the different rooms to our advantage. We had a good Director/Cinematographer relationship, we had alot of fun.

Espen: I think the look came from visiting the locations and talking with Leo about what he wanted visually. It was a collaborative process that just came from talking about the characters and story.

When you’re using your camera handheld what emotional impact are you trying to communicate to the audience? How does your camera movement help you tell your story?

Leo: All shots were planned to tell specific parts of the story. We wanted to use the crane and the dolly in the beginning to open the story, I didn’t want to show the main actress’s face until the third shoot. This way we could use sound to create the illusion of the apartment building the main character is living in and make us curious about who she is. Camera movement can help you create these illusions and enable you to keep the audience’s attention. When we use handheld it enable us to come a bit closer to the main character where “the action” takes place, we felt that it would be the right way to film most of this specific project.

Espen: We wanted to do it handheld because it gives the film an edge and the camera can respond more to the emotion of the characters. It just felt right for this film.

Espen, what lenses did you use?

We used a Red 18-50mm T3 zoom lens.

Leo, your casting is incredible and your actor’s performances are really strong. Can you tell us a little bit about your casting methodology?

Karoline Stemre was the only person I wanted for the part of Liz. Luckily she liked the script and wanted to do the project. For the other parts I wanted someone who would be able to portray the action within an almost static frame. I knew both Tom Larsen and Anniken Løviknes and even if they weren’t professional actors I knew they could do the part. Tom had some experience, but I think this was Anniken’s first time in front of the camera. When I write I try to imagine who could play that specific part, but I don’t think I have a specific casting methodology. I use the best actors I can get and hopefully we enable them to give their best performance.

Leo, how do you approach design, wardrobe and styling?

With Chatter we had a great location, we just needed to make it look like there was a girl who lived there. So I went to a lot of female friends and asked if I could borrow specific items. Then it was just dressing the set. For the wardrobe, due to our limited budget, we asked the actors to provide for it themselves, however the clothes used for the “blood” scenes were provided by the production. We asked the actors to bring four different changes of clothes to the set and then I would chose what I liked the best. We had Yvonne Andreassen on the main set to help with hair and make up.

Your locations are great. Can you tell us a little bit more about what you were looking for in a location? When you enter a space what types of things are you looking for? How long did you location scout for?

We wanted an old apartment for the main location, and I was looking for a location that would enable us to create exciting shots and give the actors plenty of room to portray their character. When I enter a location I look for specific things like:

- Corridors
- How the rooms are divided
- Doors
- Ways to divide a shot into different moments within the location

The main location I didn’t scout for at all. I wrote the script in Oslo and when I came back to Ålesund I visited a friend of mine who had moved into an old apartment at the edge of town. It felt like I wrote the scipt for that specific apartment. The other apartment was Espen’s and the “university” location we found at “Høgskolen i Aalesund”. I probably spent 5 minutes location scouting.

Espen, what were you using to stabilize your shot at 2:22 (above).

Most of the shots are all handheld with no other rigging. Basically, I just try to make the movement feel a little organic, and follow the emotion of the characters.

Espen, how are you lighting 5:36 (ab0ve)?

This shot is lit with the lighter, and a dedolight from above on a boom, and a dedolight shot directly on the glass of the door from outside in the hallway. When the lights come on we used a 800w tungsten with a softbox shot up into the ceiling from behind the camera.

This was really one of the more fun shots we did, with many people working together with the different lights and the timing of it, we where happy when it all came together.

Leo, your sound design is great. What are you recording sound on?

I can’t remember what we recorded the sound on, but I spent a long time in post production with Stefan Olsen who was the sound recordist and was responsible for the sound design. I wanted to create a specific sound to the world where Liz lives. From the sound of the apartment building, to Liz creating her own world within her apartment through music, to the eerie sound of the apartment after Liz sees the murder on the computer. Stefan did a great job.

Leo, where the musical references decided before you started shooting or did you find those songs once you started editing?

I didn’t know what I wanted until I heard it. I invited Anette Furnes Brendjord into Stefan’s studio one day and asked her to sing some of her songs, Stefan recorded it and worked on the song “Black Bile”. The creepy music during the end credits was created by Bjørn Helge Lervåg.

Leo, what was the budget for the film and how did you go about financing it?

This was a no budget production, I had enough money to get the actors to set, buy fake blood, cover all windows with plastic bags to prevent light from getting through and feed my crew.

Thank you both both greatly for taking the time to talk to our audience about your film. We wish you continued success with your future projects.

ChristianVielFilmMarketsCaseStudy by staceyparks

INTRODUCTION

Can you tell me a little about yourself and how “Fissure” came to be?

For 16 years, I worked in a cubicle in Corporate America doing technical and product marketing for two Fortune 500 companies. In the mid 90′s, I started to dabble in multimedia. As a child, I was around photography quite a bit. My father was a professional photographer, so I spent my entire childhood in his studio playing around with his cameras and photography equipment. But, in the mid 90′s, something interesting happened while I was working as an engineer — the arts went digital, and all of sudden, my technical prowess had a creative path.

I convinced my wife to let me use all of our savings to buy a video editing system. At the time, it was a Media 100 system with Adobe Premiere. So, I bought it and learned how to edit. Someone told me I should also learn After Effects. So, I did. I started small editing home videos and noodling around with the software. In 1998, someone actually paid me to do a small project for them. I thought, “Wow, you can make money at this.”

In early 2000, my corporate employer learned about my video production “hobby” and asked if I could do a tradeshow video for them. I jumped at the chance and over delivered, and they were pleased. All of sudden, I started getting calls from the marketing department for more tradeshow videos, promo videos and commercials, all the while still doing my day job as a product marketing engineer.

My “hobby” was soon generating some good money. My wife and I were using it to pay off all our debts so that we could start our own production company. In 2005, I resigned my cushy, corporate job and started my own production company, Top Pup Media.

Up that point, I had made about 5 short films, with our latest “Growing Up” winning the audience choice award that year. Winning this festival really encouraged me to take my filmmaking to the next level, which was to produce and direct a full- length feature film. We put out a query for scripts, and after receiving more than 450 submissions, we selected the script “Fissure” as our debut, feature film project. I knew this story was the one when I was completely captivated by the script after only twenty pages into it!

WRITING

How long did the script take you to write?

Nick Turner wrote the script. It took him about a year to write it.

What filters and methods did you use to ensure your script was put past enough people that you could be confident with it?

I really appreciate Nick’s patience as we ripped apart his script. The first thing we had to do was get the page count down. The original script was something like 115 pages, and that would put our budget too high, so we trimmed the script down to a tight 89 pages. We also worked on changing the ending as well. I was wanting more of a commercial ending instead of his original ending, so Nick worked with me and came up with an incredible ending. I also had other writers help me with a few polish passes as well. By the end, we had gone through about 11 revisions from his final version.

CASTING

How many actors did you get applications from?

We had two actors we cast out of LA, James Macdonald and Scarlett McAlister. The rest were cast locally here in Dallas. We put out our breakdown and were quickly flooded with headshots and resumes. My local casting director and I sorted through them and picked out our top 5 or 6 actors per role, and scheduled auditions.

How long did you cast for?

Casting the smaller roles happened pretty quickly — within a few weeks. We had two key roles we wanted to fill with some name talent, so we spent longer on those. I hired an LA casting director to help me with the bigger roles. We worked together for over a month going out to some of the other names we were interested in.

How did you run your auditions?

Our two LA actors were auditioned through tape. I sent them sides and they recorded their auditions on tape for me. The local auditions were all done in person. Since I was ramping up production, my local casting director managed the first round of local auditions by herself, finding the top two or three actors per role. Then I auditioned all the call backs.

PRODUCTION

How long did your film take to shoot?

We shot the entire film in 18 days — three 6-day weeks. One of my script requirements was to use limited locations. For 2 weeks, we shot in the Ulster home, and the final week, we shot around town in various places. Through some strategic “day for night” shooting, we were able to keep somewhat normal hours, shooting from 7am till about 7pm almost every day.

What was the budget of your film?

Our budget for the entire film from production to marketing was under $300K.

What were some of the technical things you found most limiting? Lighting? Moving locations? What is the advice you would give to filmmakers who are looking to run as smooth of a set as possible?

Amazingly, our production ran smoothly. We were under budget and on schedule for the entire production. And, it wasn’t because of my producing ability–it was my line producer, Jennifer Beasley, and my first AD, Bobby Basterache.

My line producer was amazing. She managed the crew and the operation of the production. Even though I was the only producer on the project, Jennifer took over the day-to-day operational responsibilities so I could focus on directing. Bobby, the first AD, was in charge of the set. I never had to schedule anything or tell people where to be or what to do. My advice to filmmakers is to make sure your line producer and first AD are top notch. In doing so, it’ll take a lot of pressure of you.

What camera did you shoot on?

We used the Panasonic Varicam for our movie. The 720p, 24 fps was a great format to work with. It was very filmic, and the DVCPro format provided a very affordable post path for us as well.

How did you go about licensing music for your film?

The music for the film was scored from scratch. I worked with a musician and audio team out of Burbank who did the score, the foley, the sound design and the final mix for me. I also had a custom song written for our closing credits. Custom music is much easier to license and secure for productions.

EDITING

How long did your film take to edit?

After shooting the film, I had all of the footage–every take–sitting on my editing computer. I spent the summer of 2007 editing the movie. Since I loved editing, my goal was to get it as close as possible to a solid first cut, and then hand it over to a more seasoned editor to finish it out. After three months of editing, I showed the “rough cut” to my co-producers, and they were surprised at how far along the edit was. They told me with a few tweaks, it could be locked quickly. I tend to be a perfectionist when it comes to editing, so “rough” for me is quite finished. So, instead of hiring an editor to finish the edit, I saved the money and worked with my creative team to nail down the edit.

Once the edit was locked, I handed it over to our colorist and our sound team for finishing it out. It took them another couple of months to wrap it up. We had our finished product by the end of that year.

MARKETING & DISTRIBUTION

Are you your film’s own publicist? What have been some of the most effective methods in finding an audience?

I’ve used a couple of publicists at various phases of the project. During our festival season, I used someone to help me with the PR and the news interviews. It was very helpful. The following year, when we moved into distribution, I used another PR person to help with the press releases and news interviews. Today, I’m doing all the marketing for the film.

Did you start your marketing efforts during your pre-production phase? If so, what strategies did you use?

One of the key things I did to help build awareness for the film was to setup a blog of my production experience. I started blogging the process from day one of “I want to make a movie” all the way through to distribution. Other filmmakers were encouraged by the information. I like to learn by doing, and so I wanted to share what I learned along the way. It became a great avenue for building my audience.

You’ve had different degrees of success with different social media sites such as twitter, Facebook and myspace. Can you outline how you’re using each social media site and how each one is performing for you?

Of the three social media sites, Twitter was the most effective in getting the word out. It was a quick way to get the word out and connect with other movie folks. Facebook was good for capitalizing on those connections and building the audience. It was also good for scheduling events and promoting screenings. MySpace was a disappointment. It’s more of a music community, so we didn’t have much success with it.

Are there other audience building methods that you’ve used that you’ve been surprised with for better or for worse?

We scheduled some private screenings around the US, and I was trying different ways to get people to the theater. Facebook and Twitter were okay, but not generating the response I had hoped for. So, I started searching for some “meet ups” in the area, and plugged into the filmmakers, writers and movie fans, and this was very successful. I was able to drive lots of traffic to our screenings.

You’re using Youtube’s rental program. How is this working for you? Would you change anything about the program?

We’re just getting started with the YouTube rental program, so it’s very new at this point. My two biggest questions are how to drive traffic to the rental and will people really sit and watch an entire feature film on their computer? If Google TV were in mass market right now, it could be a very viable option, but it may be a bit premature at this point. In the end, it still all comes down to marketing–driving traffic to your film.

Are you using other VOD platforms as well? Can you give a comparative analysis on which ones seem to be working better than the others?

At this point, we’re not doing anything else. I’m speaking with a guy now who can get Fissure into iTunes, and he feels it would be a pretty good revenue path for us. So, we’re still exploring a few different options at this point.

AFI has seemed to be a helpful resource for you. Can you explain your relationship with the organization and how they have helped you gain exposure for your film.

AFI was purely a film festival experience for us. AFI Dallas picked up our movie for the festival in 2008, and screened it at the festival. It was a great experience, and it provided some excellent exposure for us.

What is your film festival strategy?

Film festivals are good, and you should be a part of them. Get plugged into “Without a Box” and find some key festivals to apply for. Focus on festivals that fit your genr and apply wisely. It can get expensive, and you’ll find that you receive more rejections than acceptances, so be ready for that.

What was the biggest technical lesson that you’ve learnt during your filming process? In other words, what would you not do again for your next feature film?

From a technical perspective, our production was quite smooth. Our camera and lighting crew was amazing. Our post production workflow was solid. Because of my technical background, we had a very smooth technical production.

However, there are a few things I would change regarding the business and marketing side of things. Name talent is essential. You need to really focus on name talent, because when you start sending out screeners to distributors, they always ask two questions — who is in it and what is it about? Talent and genre are your keys to get in the door with distributors. It’s very important. Also, start your marketing early, from day 1. And, know who you are marketing to. Make sure you have a very clear understanding of who your audience is and market specifically to them. Don’t waste your marketing energy and dollars trying to reach a broad, vague audience. Be specific. Focus equals impact.

KEY LINKS

The movie website: http://fissurethemovie.com
The movie trailer: http://fissurethemovie.com/media.html
Online movie rental: http://j.mp/WatchFissure
Online movie buy: http://www.fissure.tv/store/

A fairly recent change has been YouTube’s “rental” option for indie filmmakers. Youtube started this program with their partnership with Sundance Film Festival. They started showing 5 Sundance films including Bass Ackwards, Children of Invention, The cover, One too Many Mornings and Homewrecker. They have since opened up the program to include other independent films as well.

Watch YouTube’s promo ad for this program below.

What’s interesting is that they are giving  filmmakers the freedom to set their own rental prices and rental lengths. Some films may cost $2.99 for 48 hours while others may cost $5.99 for 7 days.  Not only is YouTube giving filmmakers freedom to set their own prices, but it also seems like the majority of the profits are going towards the filmmakers.

The visitor stats for these rentable videos are still visible and while the results are modest, they are still promising. YouTube does not claim exclusive rights to the content which means you’re free to distribute your film on any other VOD platform as well. It will be interesting to see how this program develops.

To learn more about this program visit YouTube’s Filmmakers Wanted page.

1. Can you introduce yourself and your project as well as tell us how it all came together?

Dawn: My name is Dawn Mikkelson and I am the Executive Producer and Co-Director of The Red Tail. Living in Minnesota, Northwest Airlines was one of the big hometown companies. Everyone knows someone who has previously or currently works for NWA (now Delta). When the mechanics went on strike, it was a unique time for this company in that the hometown public had grown sick of this airline taking taxpayer dollars, making big promises for jobs, and then letting its top management walk off with millions of dollars while the workers were making less and less. I started the film in the fall of 2005, wanting to look at NWA as a working example of what appeared to be happening across the country to the working class. It started as a film that was much more about a company, with the workers as secondary characters. I met Melissa about 6 months into production. She joined me as an intern whose father was a striking mechanic. Through conversations I learned that she had footage of her father and the first few critical weeks of the strike. As Melissa and I got to know each other better, it became clear that her family’s story was a much more compelling way of approaching this overall situation of the working class. We decided to join forces and she and I share the directing role in The Red Tail.

Melissa: My name is Melissa Koch and I am the Director, Producer and Editor of The Red Tail. I started this project in August of 2005 when the AMFA mechanics went on strike against Northwest Airlines. I saw the story of my father (an aircraft mechanic for 38 years) and his fellow mechanics struggling to keep their jobs in the face of outsourcing as a microcosm of what American workers, and many workers globally are dealing with — a global economy that prioritizes profit above human and social costs. I think it is often true that the strongest and most effective films are those that deal with issues the filmmakers have a genuine personal connection to and a very nuanced understanding of. I couldn’t pass up the chance as a filmmaker to look at the some of the most pressing issues of our time — capitalism, the global economy, outsourcing, corporate ir/responsibility, declining power of unions, and everyday people taking a stand — through the lens of my own fathers experience.

2. At one point in your filmmaking process you had two documentary teams join into one team with a similar goal. Can you explain how this came about? How did you divide up control and responsibility? Or was that even an issue?

Dawn: I think any time you have two creative, passionate individuals working together, you are bound to have conflict. But you are also going to create a film that is much more nuanced and full than what either would have had on their own. As I said above, we decided to do this together about 6-8 months after my production had started. We did a lot of emotional and storytelling check-ins to make sure that we were both moving in the direction we wanted to go. The reason I have the additional title as Executive Producer is that I have more experience and connections, so I was able to pull together resources for the project that may not have otherwise been available. The Red Tail is my fourth feature documentary and Melissa’s first. I also have a production company called Emergence Pictures that makes doc-style videos for primarily nonprofits, so many of the equipment resources and such came from my company. In terms of creative control and such, we did our best to hear one another and make all big decisions together. During the edit we had an external drive that we would shuttle between our two homes, so we would each take stabs at the edit and then come together periodically to tackle the bigger questions.

Melissa: Dawn started working on The Red Tail shortly after I started working on a film about the strike. She was approached by a flight attendant that wanted her video production company to make a film about all the Northwest Airlines work groups — the flight attendants, mechanics, & pilots — and what the company was doing to them. I saw one of Dawn’s fliers advertising that she was raising money to make a trailer for the film. Knowing that Dawn had more resources and experience, I contacted her to see if I could assist in production in hopes that we could forge a creative partnership down the line if that made sense. After interning for her for a while, I proposed we change the direction of the film to follow an aircraft mechanic to China to meet the workers who are doing the outsourced work. Dawn agreed that the film needed both a more personal and more global approach, so we moved forward from there and eventually decided to share the directorial role. This process was complicated at times because we had varied levels of experience and different creative visions initially. Over time I think we came to a shared vision for the film, and I am certain the The Red Tail would be a very different film had one of us done it alone. I think uniting our different strengths elevated The Red Tail both creatively and technically.

3. Ethics in documentary filmmaking is a widely discussed topic. Based on the subject matter and locations of your film this issue was sure to come up. What were some of the biggest ethical decisions you needed to make as you progressed through the film? Did you learn anything about your own standpoint on these issues as you went through this process? Did you ever feel uncomfortable with a decision you were making and how did you deal with it?

Dawn: This is a big question with many potential directions to pursue. Some of the big ethical decisions had to do with the question of interviewing workers in China on camera. There is a sad history of documentary filmmakers interviewing Chinese workers, leaving the country, premiering their film, only to learn later that their subjects have “disappeared”. We did not want to be one of those productions. Because of this, we concealed the identities of our interview subjects. We were dedicated to speaking with average workers and to do that we needed to respect the fact that they had no desire to become international representatives of the Chinese Airline Mechanic.

The other main ethical decision was the choice to enter mainland China covertly with Tourist Visas versus Journalist Visas. Technically, we were not tourists, but as a documentary filmmaker, I NEVER identify as a Journalist either. Journalist visas also require that you have a government representative travel with you. We didn’t feel that that situation would allow us to do the work we needed to do, nor would our subjects speak frankly with us. So we crossed into China at the largest land crossing in two groups. Myself and Adrian Danciu (our Director of Photography) going first with most of the gear, then calling Melissa and Roy when we got in and letting them know it was safe to cross. We had many safeguards and plans for what to do if we were detained at the border or anywhere on the journey, but luckily this was not a problem. Upon returning to Hong Kong, we were told by union activists that there were two other film crews that went into mainland China at about the same time with Journalist Visas and both groups had their gear confiscated at the border on their way into the country. This said to me that we did the right thing by going on Tourist Visas.

Melissa: Of course, The Red Tail presented a multitude of ethical questions and challenges. Every documentary film does and should. The first ethical challenge that came up for me was how to deal with the racist and xenophobic discourse that surrounds so many conversations about outsourcing American jobs to China while making a film about outsourcing to China. Part of my vision for The Red Tail was that it would break down some of those myths and have real conversations between workers on both sides of outsourcing about what challenges each are facing in the context of these country-hopping jobs.

4. Is the trip to China based in the need for confrontation or understanding? How did this experience change from the beginning of the journey to the end of the journey?

Dawn: China was about understanding. The Koch family never blamed the Chinese workers for the situation they faced. And they got what they went for . . . .and then some. I also think it was about creating closure for Roy to really see where his job had gone and to take that journey with his daughter, which brought them closer together. It says a lot when your child really cares about what you’re going through and is willing to go to these lengths to honor your journey.

Melissa: My Dad has never expressed blame towards Chinese workers, but instead has always directed his frustrations towards the company he worked for and a government that allowed that company to outsource his job. The trips to Hong Kong and mainland China where never about confrontation. They were about connection, understanding and really becoming informed about workers perspectives who are part of the chain of outsourcing from the US, to Hong Kong, to mainland China.

5. How have you gone about getting press for your film? Are you your film’s own publicists? And what types of publicity have you found work best so far?

Dawn: We are our own publicists. We’ve been targeting the mainstream and indie media in every town the film screens and have had wonderful press opportunities. Through those opportunities, other press have learned about us including the Huffington Post, which was a great review and validation for us. We are currently focusing our energy on bloggers and organizations that are passionate about union, working class, globalization, and outsourcing issues, as well as professional organizations for teachers and librarians with the hope that this will lead to college/university screenings and DVD sales, as well as screenings and DVD sales to individuals.

Most beneficial is hard to answer right now, as we’re still in the thick of it. It seems that with every good review and quote that we can put on our website and other materials, the more receptive potential partners are to wanting to collaborate with us. So it is kind of a snowball effect. Locally, I have relationships with many of the indie and mainstream media and those relationships make it easier for me to pitch stories and get the publicity we want, but nationally and internationally, all bets are off. So any time we can get someone locally based to speak on our behalf to the media, the more likely we get press.

6. On your website you have “view / host a screening” link. Can you tell us about this feature of the Openindie network?

Dawn: OpenIndie is still in it’s birthing stages, but essentially it’s a resource where audience members can request a screening of a film and when you as a filmmaker see that you have reached a point where you could get a good crowd in a certain city, you post your screening and everyone in that zip code is informed of the screening. They are also working on the capability of individuals holding screenings by paying a certain fee and having the film download onto their computers and then they can screen the film wherever they are. I look forward to this being fully functional. Ultimately, we would like to have audiences more involved in what they want to see and use the film for creating community dialogues.

Outside of OpenIndie, we just had two screenings in the Detroit area last week, hosted by AverageJoeInc.com, a online community of thousands of flight attendants. Most of them work for Delta. They rented a theater and coordinated logistics (including a truck with a big billboard promoting the screening that was parked in the airport employee parking lot for weeks). I attended the screenings and sold DVDs, which covered my travel costs. I look forward to doing more screenings like this around the country with AverageJoeInc.com and other organizations.

7. There was a considerable amount of travel required for your documentary. You mentioned that many of your flights were donated. Did you manage to find companies with the same interests as you, and did you use that to your advantage? How do you recommend other documentary filmmakers approach this strategy in their quest to get both finances and resources to support their vision?

Dawn: We had $0 from companies. Our flights were donated by airline employees from NWA and United, called “buddy passes”. This is a huge question about getting finances. In the case of this film, we had fundraising events from house parties to an evening of music with local bands at a large theater in south Minneapolis. Ultimately we functioned like a nonprofit in this venture.

I have used the same model in previous films as well.

8. You also mentioned that you found funding with “hundreds of individual donors”. Did you use a crowd funding model to finance the documentary?

Dawn: We did not use crowd funding, as it wasn’t really in use as widely when we were raising our main cash in 2005 to 2008. That said, I would consider trying it out now. We also raised money through online appeals to Facebook fans and an email list that is currently around 1000 people. Half of which were interested from my previous work and the other half that came on board specifically for this film.

We had a ton of community support, from donated places to stay to grassroots momentum around our screenings. People really wanted this story told.

Melissa: We raised the bulk of our funding in two ways. The first chunk of money we raised was through online donations on our website. Many strikers and other NWA employees donated, and we also contacted hundreds of organizations that have something to do with labor unions and working class issues and asked them to put a banner add that if clicked on would direct users from their website to The Red Tail. This directed a ton of traffic to our site and helped boost our online donations. Another successful fundraiser was an event we had with a silent auction, food & drinks, a preview of the The Red Tail, and several local bands who are part of the soundtrack of the film. That proceeds from that event covered our costs for the trip to and production in mainland China.

9. I notice that you’re using Amazon Video on Demand. How well has this platform serviced your needs as documentary filmmakers?

Dawn: Honestly, so far I’m not terribly impressed. It took MONTHS to process on their end, we get a very small cut of the proceeds, and we have no way of knowing where people learn about the film, where they were referred from, etc, because Amazon/Create Space keep this information from us. That said, it is one of the only online pay platforms that the general public knows about and so it was worth the experiment.

10. From a distribution standpoint what is some of the best advice you could give aspiring documentary filmmakers?

Dawn: At least half of your work on your film will be in distribution and the odds are that you will be doing this on your own, so you might as well learn to enjoy it. Here’s an article I wrote for MovieMaker Magazine on that topic.

Melissa: Create a distribution plan as soon as possible. If you can, do it before you start shooting your film. Independent distribution is exciting and tedious and the more solid your plan is ahead of time, the better position you will be in when you wrap post production and try to get your film in front of audiences. While it is important to have a festival strategy, it is also important to screen your film as much as possible in front of audiences (sell them your DVD’s!), press press press, link up with organizations and individuals who are passionate about your project, research all different distribution platforms and utilize them, create a great website that is active and participatory, say yes to as many opportunities as you can because they will likely lead to more opportunities.

11. How long did this documentary take you to complete

Dawn: Aug 2005 to July 2009. So 4 years.

12. What was the budget for this documentary?

Dawn: Actual budget was around $230,000-250,000. That would presume that everyone got paid for their work. Actual cash that paid for travel and a few additional expenses . . . More along the lines of $35,000.

13. You have quite a few theatrical screenings. What has been your film festival strategy?

Dawn: Thank you. Started with the top 10-20 international film festival and waited for a premiere. That said, we did sneak previews at ones before then that made sense for our audience, such as Minneapolis/St. Paul International Film Festival (NWA hometown) and Reel Work May Day Labor Film festival in Santa Cruz. We’ve been active in contacting conferences and gatherings of our target audience and some of those contacts have paid off. And again, this is like a snowball. Once you have a couple, festival programmers and organizers listen to each other and the media.

One thing I will say, festivals are great for creating buzz, liner notes, good press, etc. These things all help you sell your film down the road. But I think one of the biggest mistakes young filmmakers make is to presume that a festival is the end of the journey and that some big distributor will then whisk them off into the world of success. This is rarely the case and shouldn’t be your only plan. Odds are that festivals are just the beginning of a long journey of distribution.

14. Both of you seemed to have very different ideas about how to approach your documentary’s story. Dawn seemed to want to use NWA as a case study and a jumping off point for a larger discussion on the topic of globalization. Melissa on the other hand was working on a story about her father that really humanized the documentary. From a narrative storytelling standpoint it seems that Dawn was focused on the film’s plot and Melissa was focused on the film’s characters. How important do you think it is to humanize these large political, social and economic stories?

For example, one of our students wants to start filming a documentary about food production methods, but he’s having a difficult time balancing “issue” with “character”. I cautioned him about not having a character (or characters) to embody on a personal level, the conflict your discussing on a whole. Can you talk about the pros  and cons of using this method of story telling?

Dawn: Historically, all my films revolve around 1-3 central characters navigating their way through a larger social issue.  From the ordination of a lesbian minister in THIS obedience to illuminate the struggle over sexuality and religion in mainline Christian churches to the intimate stories of Cree and Metis residents about how their lives have been devastated by massive flooding from a large-scale hydroelectric dam in Manitoba in Green Green Water.  The Red Tail was no different.  I was really struggling with The Red Tail when Melissa and I decided to merge visions for that very reason, as the film didn’t have those characters yet.  This film reminded me of the importance of this approach.

Ultimately, my approach to documentary filmmaking is an emotional one.  I believe that documentary film’s largest strength is its ability to impact an audience on an emotional level and that is the level where we make our big decisions, if we’re honest with ourselves.  Sure, we need facts and intellectual arguments to help us along the journey in deciding how we feel about an issue, but ultimately this decision is made when we FEEL the answer.  The impact of personal stories and experiences is the best way to get to that emotional answer.

I would imagine you advised your student that there is danger in having any character “embody” any conflict, as it ultimately impacts that person quite a bit.  It is a lot of pressure for your subject, especially if the film does well, to be considered the working example of an issue in the public eye.  That said, the way we constructed The Red Tail and the way I construct my other films it is clear that these characters are just one example of multitudes of individuals.  After screenings, the biggest comment I hear is how Roy’s story reminds the audience of their own story or of the story of someone they love.  They see it for what it is, a small representation of a universal experience.  This is all presuming that the character you focus on is someone with much personal integrity and someone the audience will likely relate to.  Obviously the opposite effect could occur if you have a character that has little integrity representing an issue.

Bringing me back to The Red Tail.  Until I met Melissa and Roy, I hadn’t found that person that could really represent this story the way they do.  They are a family of honest people, who really don’t want to be the leaders of a movement, and reflect the type of folks you would want as friends and I am happy to say became my friends . . . The other great benefit of documentary film.

Melissa: As a filmmaker, I am drawn to deeply personal stories that give audiences an emotional access point to larger social and ideological conflicts. I think it vitally important to have a character/s that can bring an audience through a story, personalize larger issues, and make a documentary more compelling. If I take The Red Tail as an example — The story of Northwest Airlines outsourcing work, cutting labor costs, breaking unions, filing bankruptcy while giving huge bonuses to executives, and merging with Delta into the largest airline in the world is certainly an important issue, but for me it doesn’t make for a film on it’s own. Following my father’s process with a labor strike and then his journey to meet the worker that replaced him is the heart of the story. Without him as a character, not only would people not watch the film as much, they wouldn’t get as much out of it. His emotional journey and the struggle of the striking workers are what shed such blinding light on the larger “issues”.

We tried to take a somewhat narrative film approach to the structure of The Red Tail. We actually consulted with narrative writers and filmmakers more than with documentary filmmakers because we both felt that the more we could structure the film like a narrative, the more accessible and compelling it would be.

To your student who is interested in making a doc about food production methods, I would ask — What is your story? Is it someone who works in food production who is impacted by the methods? Is a consumer who is being effected by processing methods? Is it the small local farm/food processor that is doing it a different way and why? Is your character someone who is fighting to change food production methods? Find your story — and hopefully you will find your character/s with it.

Purchasing & Screening Information:

* To buy DVD’s, schedule a screening, or learn more visit http://www.redtailmovie.com
* The best way to hear about things as they happen with The Red Tail is to be our fan on Facebook. http://www.facebook.com/theredtail

Independent feature films such as Medicine for Melancholy and Ballast are just two examples of micro-budget features that have gone on to win numerous filmmaking awards. Ballast, for example, won awards for both Best Director and Best Cinematography at Sundance Film Festival in 2008.

With audiences, festivals, distributors and studios accepting the new indie film aesthetic, filmmakers are flooding the market with their films in the hopes that they too will be able to create a worthwhile film that will garner media attention and win awards.

Unfortunately, many of the independent feature films being produced today lack a certain technical and creative care that is required for a film to be successful in today’s increasingly competitive independent film market. When film was expensive to shoot, a great amount of planning and attention to detail was required. However, due to the fact that video technology is accessible and fast, the motto of “pay attention to detail” has deteriorated into “get it done… this weekend”.

Remember, if your audience thinks to themselves “I could have made this myself”, the chances of them watching your film are not great. Audiences may not be able to articulate exactly what it is about an indie film they don’t like, but they know it when they see it (or hear it).

In our online film program we ask our students to work their way through a series of technical modules that help them identify the technical and aesthetic problems of independent film. We then ask them to complete small video projects in the hopes that these projects will help them avoid these common mistakes in their future productions.

From the second our students enroll in our online film course they are writing scripts and creating short films with an acute awareness of the common mistakes that new filmmakers make.

In our screenwriting module for example, our students are asked to enroll in live online “lab Chats” where they learn about the rules of Western Dramatic Structure. They learn about character arc, story arc, protagonist development, catalysts, plot points, pivotal characters, scene pacing, denouements and all of the other structural elements that go into creating a story. There is a science to story telling and it’s important to study it. Essentially, if you’re going to break the rules, it’s important to know what the rules are first.

While these rules may seem overly technical, academic or clinical, I doubt there is a successful filmmaker today who doesn’t know how to use these rules in the development of their stories.

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IF YOU’RE LOOKING FOR EXPOSURE, RECOGNITION & EVALUATION THEN CONSIDER IMPROVING YOUR FILMMAKING SKILLS BY SIGNING UP FOR OUR INTENSIVE 4 MONTH ONLINE FILMMAKING COURSE HERE.

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The same goes for cinematography. It’s simply not enough to know how to press the record button on your video camera. That is simply not enough skill to qualify yourself as a cinematographer or director. You need to know how staging, lighting, editing, movement and dramatic beats work together to punctuate a scene. Movement requires motivation and lighting helps you create a mood. There are right and wrong ways to approach these things. These are subjects that require technical study. To guess, or even worse, ignore these topics, is quite simply filmmaker suicide.

That is why it’s imperative that serious filmmakers take the time to educate themselves. Whether it’s through our online film course, other film schools, books, weekend crash courses, websites, professional mentors or workshops you need to have a strong theoretical and technical background before your films will be worth watching.

So what makes a great filmmaker? The answer to this question would require more time than this blog post would allow for, so let’s instead focus on 6 identifying points that allow us to gauge if a filmmaker is on the right track.

1. Understand Lighting
One of the biggest stylistic differences between a small budget and a big budget production is the use of lighting. Filmmakers need to study lighting to be able to help support the mood of their story. They will need to know how to light a set using either artificial or natural light. Independent films don’t require cube vans and huge lighting kits but that doesn’t mean that filmmakers can ignore lighting altogether. Sure you won’t be able to properly light an entire city block at night, but you should be able to light your protagonist’s bedroom. In order to do this properly you need to study lighting.

2. Understand Design
Another stylistic issue which turns a lot of audience’s off, is the lack of design in a film. All large budget productions will hire a production designer to conceptualize the look of a film. Essentially, a film’s designer is the film’s architect. They work with the director, stylists and set decorators to help design a color palette, incorporate texture and find outfits and props that fit into the overall design of a film.

Independent filmmakers often shoot in natural environments. This helps indie filmmakers save money and use the locations they have available to them. However, it’s important to understand that most natural environments have neutral design elements. For example, most homes and apartments have white walls. However, most audiences will find white walls infinitely boring and from a filmmaking standpoint white walls won’t often support the emotional tone of a scene. It’s a filmmaker’s responsibility to adapt these natural environments in creative and low cost ways to support the tone of their film. What about putting up wallpaper with double sided tape? What about shooting against a patterned curtain? The design potential is limitless. The idea however, is to keep your costs low and your design high.

3. Script Analysis
As discussed above, a filmmaker needs to be able to identify a good story. A good director will always be able to go through a script and look for the dramatic peaks and valleys. They should also be able to identify issues with relationships, character arcs, scene wants, acting beats, story beats and so on. Filmmakers need to study how to analyze and deconstruct a story if they plan on keeping an audience interested for 90 minutes. This is not an easy task but there are methods and strategies you can study to help increase your chances of success.

Indie films also have a tendency to have strong dogmatic undertones. They often come across as preachy and in some cases even condescending in their film’s message. If your film has a message, try to embed it in a compelling story and make sure you challenge your own message as well. Audience’s don’t like being talked down to. If they know you’re trying to prove them wrong about life, they likely won’t show up to watch your film in the first place. It’s a double edged sword: You’ll often want some sort of commentary embedded in your story, but you need to be careful not to alienate your audience with any hints of pretentiousness.

4. Ability to Work with Actors
If you’re a documentary filmmaker you need to know how to work with your subjects and if you’re a fiction filmmaker you need to know how to work with actors. Filmmakers need to learn and understand the communicative tools used to help shape your story. This means understanding character back-story, knowing how to communicate using active verbs, being able to identify scene wants and so on. You’ll also need to focus your attention on details such as scene beats and how to properly punctuate your scenes. A filmmaker’s responsibility isn’t just to say “action”. You need to know what “action” you’re looking for. This requires intimate and detailed work with your actors.

I’ve found the process of taking (and auditing) acting classes a valuable resource in my quest to better understand how to communicate effectively with actors.

5. Focus on the Microscopic Details & Don’t Ignore Sound
I can’t stress the importance of this point enough: Great filmmakers need to be detail oriented. You need to know how to recognize the differences in camera movement between hand-held footage and steadycam footage. You need to be able to recognize bumps or movement inconsistencies in your tracking shots. These small details can make or break your film.

As a filmmaker you also need to study and understand the different parts that go into the final film product. One of the technical things many inexperienced filmmakers neglect (or only think of as an afterthought) is sound design. The emotional impact of sound is huge in the final film product. Audiences are unforgiving about bad sound. They will pick up on it immediately and immediately flag your film as a low budget film. Remember, first impressions count for a lot. Don’t give your audience a reason to dislike your film before you even get a chance to get into your story.

Spending your time finding a great crew to work with will make your job much easier. Finding a good sound designer, boom operator, first AD, producer, writer, director and designer will help you start your film off on the right foot. Working with a great crew is essential if you’re trying to make a great film.

6. Don’t Overstep Your Special Effects Boundaries
With low budget filmmaking comes limitations.  This is not necessarily a bad thing. It’s just about knowing what you’re working with and doing the best job you can within those limitations. Having the urge to overstep boundaries established by your own skill level or budget will likely stand to do more harm than good. Unless you have access to talented animators or special effects artists willing to work for free or at a discount you should probably avoid elaborate shootout scenes, rotoscoping, CGI and any other visual effects.

While not a comprehensive list, the 6 points mentioned above are great identifiers for great filmmakers or at least filmmakers that are on the right track.

Do you have a film to share that takes into consideration 1 or more of the points discussed above? Do you have other points you’d like to add to the list? We’d love to hear about it.

Using negative space helps you, as the filmmaker, accomplish many technical, creative and story-telling goals. For example using negative space helps with the following:

1. Controls the color palette of a shot
2. Simplifies the shot (removes visual clutter)
3. Adds depth to a shot
4. Isolates the audience’s attention to a particular part of the frame.

The Hong Kong born filmmaker, Wong Kar Wai, has mastered the use of negative space. Many of his films use this stylistic approach to framing in order to accomplish the goals mentioned above. The reason we teach our students this visual strategy is because it often also means that the filmmaker isn’t required to design and light as much physical space, which consequently helps them save money while at the same time allowing them to add production value to their films by focusing only the most essential space of a scene.

Below you’ll find a still image from the Wong Kar Wai film “Ashes of Time“. You’ll notice that this particular shot accomplished all of the objectives discussed in the list above. The negative space in this shot is located on the left side of the frame. All that exists in the foreground is a gradient of red.

If you have a short film were you’ve successfully used negative space to accomplish any of the goals discussed above feel free to post in the comment section below.

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IF YOU’RE LOOKING FOR EXPOSURE, RECOGNITION & EVALUATION THEN CONSIDER IMPROVING YOUR FILMMAKING SKILLS BY SIGNING UP FOR OUR INTENSIVE 4 MONTH ONLINE FILMMAKING COURSE HERE.

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