Over the last 3 years I got a lot out of this site and I was wondering if someone is interested to read a diary about making a Thesis film. I basically started with my project yesterday and it will be a long journey, more than 10 months until I will end up with a finished film. I could go into details how NYU works and how they teach us to approach such a big budget short student film.

so write back if you guys are interested I am sure it could be a helpful thing and I promisse to answer all questions that will come up.

Kris

yeah, write and i shall read!

I second that!

ok, here we go

Part 1 - Pre-pre-pre Production

This project is starting in a class called Advanced Production Workshop. It is the last production class at NYU and the duration is 2 semester. 20 People are competing for 10 film allotments (money, equipment). The first two months will be heavy work on the scripts and trying to convince the teacher that I am better than the rest of the class. A brutal system but personally, I produce much better work under pressure so I look forward to this little race/competition.

First two weeks, we'll begin with pitching our ideas in class. We discuss them, de-construct them and we figure out how and IF they can be improved. The teacher wants to use the following four criteria for the discussions

- Structure
- Emotional Thru line
- Visual storytelling
- Aural storytelling

Besides that, we have to watch a couple of assignet movies and write papers about them. We have to show our teacher stuff we did in previous years so he gets to know our style and our personality.

My main obejctive is to get a first draft out as soon as possible. The maximum lenght of a script in this class is 30 minutes, but I will stick to 10-15 min because of production costs/value and festival playability (no one wants to see a 30 min short).

One of the most important things I learned ( and many directors never learn this) is to find out our weakest spot in the art of film making. In my case, I am a very good visual storyteller but not a great writer. I know a lot about screenwriting, I read dozens of books, but there are other people who are just better than I am. This may be because english is not my native language, but maybe I'm just not talented in it. So I decided to collaborate with writers. I found two very talented guys in LA who graduated from USC two years ago. One of them just directed a feature, shot on 16mm. They will write the script for me in a close collaboration.

the past 10 months I was reading hundreds of short stories and found one I'd love to adapt. It is an Ambrose Bierce short called Chickamauga. It is a simple story with a surprising ending and en extremely visually driven story. I am extremely passionat about it. Being in love with the story is probably the most important part in the whole process. This film will hunt me for the next 10 months. I wont be able to think about other things and I will put all my heart and one year of my life in this project. I need to believe that this story will win academy awards for me. If I don't see this potential in it, I will suffer later on when doubts will rise about the quality of the script. Orson welles once said: " make your film as it was your last. And your first." My last film needs to have the best possible story that I can come up.
Yesterday, I've send a 10 pages essay about possible interpretations of the original text to LA and we will sit together in an AIM Chat session on tuesday to discuss the next step. At the end of next week, I'd like to have a first draft in my hands.

Personally, I love this part of the project. Nothing is written in stone, everything possible. There are no budget limitations, nothing is impossible. Soon, I need to present the class how I will finance this project and then things will change. The nature of the story (anti war film) already predicts a very high need for money. My first guess is at least 30000$. I'll talk about how to raise this amount of money later on. Money is always my biggest fear. It dictates to a certain degree my directing. Moving a camera is expensive. Steady cam operators cost a lot of money. A crane or jimmy jib to move the camera up into the air is insanely expensive. I don't look forward to a point where I have to worry about such things.

Next week, I'll post how the script work and the collaboration is going. Also I look forward to my first presentation in class. March 11 is the deadline when the teacher will present the 10 lucky guys who will get the allotment. If I survive that, the next step will be to get one of the two Panavision Gold 35mm Rigs at NYU for this project. Another deadline I will have to face is one of the big film grants I could get from my Homecountry Switzerland. I need to send them a complete script with an extensive portfolio before march 15.

Sometimes, I miss those good old times when I went out with 2-3 of my buddies to shoot a film in 2 days on the streets. Now, it's a lot of business and producing work instead of just being creative. I need to find 2-3 excellent producers I can trust who take all this from my shoulders so I can focus primarily on the creative things. But to get good producers and crew, you need a good script firstAnd I hope I'll have that ready as soon as possible.

sounds like it's going to be an awesome project. good luck!

Kris,

This sounds interesting. Have you seen the show on IFC that I believe is set at NYU? It goes through some of the same things you wrote about (competing for spots, etc.)

I've briefly looked at the Chickamauga story and it seems like it would be a fairly short film. What running time are you predicting? $30,000 may be hard to obtain for something that would likely be around 10 minutes, although the Swiss film grants are available.

Good luck, and keep updating this thread.

We will change certain aspects of the story of course.

Mhh I predict a running time around 10 minutes, yes. Obtaining money is almost impossible, yea I do have certain funds from my family as a backup, so I'm a lucky guy.

I watched that IFC docu like twice (why is it on friday night? I'm never at home then) and I thought its hilarious. The tripodo guy? OMG...

A little update.

We developed the first draft of the screenplay and it got a very very good response in class and also from the teacher. It looks like we are on the right path. Not much to add at this point....back to developing the second draft.

If you get a chance, post an excerpt from the screenplay. I'm interested to see how you handled the adaptation.

Im familar with this story, and you have a hell of alot of good visual ideas to work with. Do you have any good child actors in mind? Where are you planning on filming? Also, if you would let me submit a score for your cut i would be eternally greatfull. Let me know. I'm also kind of familiar with special makeup effects, and pyrotechnics so if you need any advice for the village, or the slain mother, id be happy to oblige. I can't wait to hear more about this project. Good luck.

I will post the newest draft and more infos after I wrapped with my current project, a post apocalyptic sci-fi thriller...haha, I am going to die this weekend.