Hello all..

Well, I had been planning to start production on a new short I wrote for about two weeks now (not exactly a great pre prod. time, but we greenlight this sort of last minute.) Most of my friends that I shoot with were upset about my moving to North Carolina, and wanted to do something before I left, so I said, "OK, well do this."

The thing is, while I like the script we are shooting I wrote it in about 20 minutes one day, and never really looked at it again. My partner in crime, Alex (He is usually my co producer, and D.P.) really liked it (He was slated to play one of the roles) and pushed for us to do it.

What I didnt know was Alex went to a production company in Miami that he has been working with as camera operator/grip and told them about the short. He also showed the owner (who I had only met once before) a copy of my last short "Intersection." Well, he liked it, and told Alex we could use any of his equipment that we wanted for the shoot. Alex calls me and says "Were shooting in Miami." but dosent say why. "The hell we are. Im not driving down there (1 1/2 hour drive) to shoot this."

Long story short, he told me we could use SOME equipment, so I agreed. Two nights ago we shot the meat of the short. We arrived to the studio, to find the owner there because he wanted to "watch me work" He also said I could use anything there I wanted, and even went so far as to allow his studio fridge to act as craft services.

Ok, now for the good part. I shot the entire thing on a 16 foot fully remote controled jib arm. I cannot even begin to tell you the endless possibilities this thing provides. You dont sight up shots with your eye, and then place the camera, you do it all with the jib. Angles, and compositions you never dreamed of avaliable to you in meer seconds. I didnt want to go "jib crazy" so i tried to limit big moves to only where they belonged, but overal it was fantastic. Due to some slower crew members, we were unable to start rolling till after 11:00 pm and I was literally shooting until the sun came up, but in that time We shot 5 pages of a 6 page script, and got over 40 different camera setups. The owner liked what he saw, and told me that if this looked half as good as "Intersection" (which judging by what I saw on th monitor,this blows "Intersection" away.) He would offer his services to do a full color correction, and "film look" process.

As for the short, it was birthed from a conversation I had with a young film maker who was asking me how he might come up with stories. I told him, "Take something weve seen in movies a hundred times, and do something different with it." He gawked at me with a confused look, so I offered an example. "Ok, so a serial killer dumping a body. While you might see this in a film about a serial killer, chancs are it does nothing to further the plot. Its simply information, so the audience knows he dosent have a corpse rotting in his living room. But what happens on the way to dump the body? Maybe he could get in a car accident." and there it was, the story flashed before my eyes, and I said, "In fact, you cant have that idea, Im gonna go write a script."

And so was the birth of "Fender Bender." The story of a suave, latino lady killer on his way to dump the dead girl in his trunk, who accidentally rear ends the wrong guy. We will hopefully be completing production later this week, and begin post soon thereafter. Be on the look out for screen grabs soon.

R. Michael

"Luck, is when opportunity, meets preperation." "There are 3 sides to every story. Yours, mine, and the truth, and none of us are lying" -Robert Evans

where in NC are you moving to? and why?

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Originally posted by kubrick77:
where in NC are you moving to? and why?

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Charlotte area. The reason is my wife has been really great about supporting what I do, and has put some of her aspirations on the back burner as a result. She was accepted at a school there, and I figure if I can make films here, I can do it there as well. Most of my buddies have already said they will come up, and bring equipment, all I have to do is ask. Plus, I can always come bak here to shoot something. N.C. has some great natural locations, and I already have a meeting schedualed with the film commission, so im looking forward to it.
R. M.

"Luck, is when opportunity, meets preperation." "There are 3 sides to every story. Yours, mine, and the truth, and none of us are lying" -Robert Evans

i am originally from Charlotte.

Good Luck on your future endeavors!!

That's pretty cool you have a wife that has a lot of interest in your films. I hope I can find someone like that...or maybe I could just KILL you and take your wife....hmmm........

-TacoWagonProductions

Q.What did the right leg say to the left leg?
A. Watch out for the guy in the middle. He's a real dick

[This message was edited by Kyle "BIG" Johnson on June 02, 2003 at 01:32 PM.]

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Originally posted by Kyle "BIG" Johnson:
That's pretty cool you have a wife that has a lot of interest in your films. I hope I can find someone like that...or maybe I could just KILL you and take your wife....hmmm........

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In other student film news, cameras rolled as Kyle Johnson attempted to take Tizzy's wife today. Unfortunatley for Kyle, he underestimated Tizzys accuracy 12 guage shotgun.



Besides, I think NotaMono has first dibs on her.

R. M.

"Luck, is when opportunity, meets preperation." "There are 3 sides to every story. Yours, mine, and the truth, and none of us are lying" -Robert Evans

Am I really that bald?

Also,, I wanted to tell you Tizzy, on another forum topic about Zombie movies you mentioned using pancake mix and stuff. My friend and I, and my little brothers and sister, made a short film Sunday night -from about six to 11, about Zombies and whatnot. We were just experimenting around. But anyways we tried your pancake idea (except we didn't have marshmellows, but it worked pretty good. They actually looked like decent Zombies. Thanks for the tip

-TacoWagonProductions

Q.What did the right leg say to the left leg?
A. Watch out for the guy in the middle. He's a real dick

Which topic was this on?

If you don't look I'll force you to _=_

Cool, glad it worked out for ya. Yeah, I have to admit I wouldnt have thought of that one on my own. The marshmallows just help keep it from cracking once dried. Then you can actually apply some powder based makeup like to darken up eye sockets and such. Then just add dirt, blood, whatever and your good to go.
R. M.

"Luck, is when opportunity, meets preperation." "There are 3 sides to every story. Yours, mine, and the truth, and none of us are lying" -Robert Evans

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Which topic was this on?

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General Filmmaking Discussion: Zombie Movies

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Besides, I think NotaMono has first dibs on her.

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Then hey, after my head is blown off I'll turn into a Zombie and kill him.

-TacoWagonProductions

Q.What did the right leg say to the left leg?
A. Watch out for the guy in the middle. He's a real dick

Congrats on the short, RM. I live 90 miles from Charlotte (Greensboro) and my brother lives in Concord (just north of Charlotte).

In fact, the artist's studio where we are shooting the documentary for the Flight Centennial is just outside of Charlotte. Let me know when you get to NC and I'll take you and your wife to lunch/dinner (if you want to go - if not, that's fine too), as a "welcome to NC"!

Kubrick - How long did you live in Charlotte? My brother and father have been there for years (my father died a few years ago). I know the town pretty well.

I've only been to Frisco once for a day trip during a convention at Santa Clara and did the tourist thing. Nice area at the water.

Mark M
Scooter Productions

Thanks Mark,a very nice offer. I will have to take you up on that once we get settled. (when you se me youll note I am not someone who turns down a free meal. LOL) Ive been doing alot here in South, Florida and with all the great locations and resources in N.C. I have no intention of slowing down. I have a few meetings set up, and im trying to get one with the folks at screen gems as well, so we will see what happens. In the mean time, have shorts will shoot.
R. M.

"Luck, is when opportunity, meets preperation." "There are 3 sides to every story. Yours, mine, and the truth, and none of us are lying" -Robert Evans

Just let me know when it's convenient. I'll be in that area at least once a week working on the doc.

Have a nice summer and good luck with the meetings!

Mark M
Scooter Productions