The Next One...

I've been so fortunate with the success that Enter the Dark has had so far: screenings around the world, great reviews and multiple awards.  More importantly, people really seem to respond to it and have encouraged me to keep going.  And therein lies the problem.  That dreaded sophomore slump.  It's time to start writing the next one.

With Enter the Dark, my main goal was simply to finally finish something.  I've been very good at coming up with ideas in my lifetime, and horrible at actually finishing any one of them.  I purposely made this goal embarrassingly easy to accomplish - shooting it in my own house, with my friends, with gear we already owned.  No excuses.  If I couldn't complete a short film under those circumstances, I never would and I should just accept that fact.  Fortunately with the great help of my friends, we did indeed steam forward and not only finished the project, but made a pretty darn good one as well.

 

But now, things are different.  This time, there can be no excuses - no conditions.  It's not enough to say, "Hey, isn't this pretty good considering we did this with no money and it was just me and my buddies?"  No, this time it has to stand on its own.  This short film has to be good enough that it could be shown to anyone and they would assume it was a Hollywood-produced film.  The story, acting, camerawork, lighting, art direction, sound design and everything else all have to be top-notch.  It has to be seamless - no excuses.

And why is that - you may ask.  Well, it's simple - this has to be my calling card.  There's no more goofing around.  If I'm to ever make it in this industry - to actually fulfill my little ol' BA in Cinema from S.F. State University, then the time is now.  This project has to be good enough for someone to look at and say, "Wow, this guy's good - let's give him a couple million and see what he can do with an actual budget.  Let's give him a feature film to direct."

There, I said it - that's what I ultimately want to do.

So, you tell me, how can anyone actually produce good art under those pressures?  You see, I have to play a game with myself - to forget what my goals are and just concentrate on the task at hand - writing a great story.  But it has to be a story that not only speaks to me, but that enables me to showcase my talents as a writer/director.  It has to be small enough so it is do-able (considering I still will have almost no budget), but big enough to explore inventive ideas. 

In short, I need to produce a tiny, perfect gem of a story that will be the seed to my future.  No pressure there…

UGH!!!

I'm stuffing myself with movies, pouring over M.C. Escher prints and reading Borges' Labyrinths to hopefully have all this wash over me so that some of its brilliance may somehow seep into my pores.  But I know I need to find my own true voice - I cannot allow myself to try to write to please others.  Only by making the story personal will it connect with others on a deeper level.  The things that work in Enter the Dark work because they feel authentic.  I must focus on that.

The good news is I think I've found the story - the architecture around which I may be able to create my film.  I still need to flesh out the details, breathe life into the characters, find the heart - but I think I've found the vessel.  Now, if I can just make the damned thing float!

Red State: Kevin Smith Discovers 21st Century Indie Filmmaking

As many of you may know, Kevin Smith recently completed his latest film, Red State, which he made for a reported $4 million outside of the studio system.  The film premiered at Sundance, after which Smith made a big to-do about auctioning off the distribution rights for his home-made horror flick right there - right then to the highest bidder.

If you are interested, check out the clips of Smith's often funny (and of course expletive drenched) rant from Sundance here:

and part 2 here:

Of course, the whole thing was really a big setup for Smith to proclaim a big F_You to the current distribution model and announce that he was going maintain ownership of his movie and self-distribute through a road-show style series of bookings at various venues throughout the country.  In filmmaking terminology, this is known as "four-walling" - traditionally a last-option tactic for a desperate filmmaker looking to get some exposure, or at best a way for an unsigned movie to try to find an audience.

The funniest thing to me is that Smith has basically come to the same conclusions that most indie filmmakers have today:  own your content, build your fanbase and self-distribute.  Welcome to 21st  century indie filmmaking, Kevin.

The problem is that someone like Smith has a tremendous advantage over someone just starting out in that he already is a known name brand and has a huge fan base that ironically was generated my the same marketing machine that he rails out against in his diatribe.  So, when he says things like, "We're going to distribute without any advertising costs.", he can get away with that because he already has 1.7 million rabid followers on Twitter.  And where did they come from?  From all the films he's made over the past 20 years.  And how did folks come to see those films?  From the same bloated, unimaginative marketing machine he now says is unneccessary.  And you know what?  He's right.

For him he's right.  Or say, Eli Roth.  Or the Cohen Brothers. Or any other writer/director who already has a fan-base he/she can sell to directly.  For the rest of us poor scrubs looking to work our way up - good luck.

So, the model for any indie filmmaker trying to make it today seems to be something like this:

- Build your skills.  Write and direct a number of shorts.  Figure out what works and what doesn't on a small-scale that won't wipe out your life savings.  If you're good enough to get into some festivals and have some favorable reviews, keep going.  If not, hey you can always make videos of kittens and boobies for YouTube.

- Build your fanbase.  Utilize Facebook, blogs, twitter, YouTube, etc to find and engage folks who seem to like your work.

- Develop your brand.  This is kinda huge in the long-run.  When I hear Kevin Smith is making a new film - I already know what I'm in for.  That doesn't mean all his films are the same, but that he has a certain worldview, a certain style that shows through in all his movies.  If you are all over the map in the type of movies you make (especially in the beginning) it will be harder to grow and maintain a fanbase.  After you're established, you can branch out more.

- Take your big shot.  Now it's time to step up and make a feature.  If you can, find financial backing through traditional investors, or crowd-sourcing sites like IndieGoGo and Kickstarter. Keep production costs low by leveraging digital technology - shoot on HDSLRs, or Red. You know your craft, you've built your fanbase and established your brand - now, put everything together into a great script THAT SOMEONE CAN ACTUALLY MARKET.  This is not the time for introspective, experimental filmmaking - unless you already have a fortune and can afford to live off a trust fund.  This is a project that will make or break you, so it better be something your existing fanbase as well as others will want to see.

- Make your deal.  Here is where I disagree with Kevin.  For someone just coming up in the ranks, if you are lucky enough to have a distributor approach you and actually want to drop $20 million to promote your film - EFF YEAH, you should take that deal.  Sure, you will sign your film away and will probably never see any profits, but the trade-off is well worth it because now that bloated, unimaginative marketing machine will spread your name (and brand) far and wide in ways that you could never do yourself.

Now, what happens if no distributor ever offers you a big deal (which will be the case for most everyone)?  Well, in that case, you will need to self-distribute through IndieFlix, Netflix, etc. and scrape by, hoping that you can slowly build your brand and fanbase to a point where you can eventually make money doing this.

- Make your next film.   Hopefully, that first feature was successful and since your name brand has hit the big stage, you can now maintain ownership of your movies and their distribution.  Utilize your fanbase as evangelists to market your next film for you.  EFF the traditional marketing and distribution models.  Keep costs low, own everything and develop a one-to-one or one-to-many model to get your movies directly to your fans.  You are now Kevin Smith.  Go and buy a hockey stick.

Enter the Dark - Updates

The latest greatest happenings of my little bundle of spooky goodness known as Enter the Dark:

First, a couple of recent reviews:

Scary Film Review:  … a very surreal, scary and realistic depiction of a universal fear that all of us have... a sonic achievement of style and horror, but in a very psychological way.

Killer Reviews:  ...one of those short cool films that is efficiently produced and directed, well written and acted and a damn good use of a spare 17 minutes.

Be sure to check out these websites as they offer great insights and content on all things horror.

In other news, we were excited to find out that Enter the Dark received an Award of Merit from IndieFest!

From their website:  "Indie awards go to those filmmakers who produce fresh, standout entertainment, animation and compelling documentaries. The Indie is a showcase for cinematic gems and unique voices."

Woo Hoo!  While we're stoked to have received the recognition, I think we'll hold off on getting the actual trophy you see on the left.  You see, that little baby would set me back another $350 bucks, and while it would be nice to see it up on my mantle, I can live with the JPEG image just fine.

Also, congrats and a shout-out to my friend Elisabeth Fies for taking home an Award of Excellence at the same awards for Sound Overall Impact for The Commune.  Elisabeth and I, along with sound-recordist and mixer, Winter, spent a lot of time and effort on the sound design of that movie to really set mood, create tension, and emphasize plot points.  I learned a lot, which definitely paid off when it came time to think about sound for Enter the Dark.

No new screenings or festivals at the moment, but hopefully that will soon change as many of the festivals I have submitted to will be making their selections any day now.  Most of the recent submissions have been to short film festivals, or indie film festivals, so it will be interesting to see how the movie is received by a non horror-specific audience.  I hope it will do well, as folks who have seen it already who don't normally like horror movies (my wife included) have so far responded well to it. 

We shall see...

Enter the Dark news roundup

- Another festival! Enter the Dark is an official selection of the Thriller! Chiller! film festival in Grand Rapids, MI.

- Interview with Dead Harvey: 

It's a great short, engaging until the end and the twist ending really will catch you off guard.

 - Brutal as Hell review:

… a fun little fright flick that effectively showcases Miro’s filmmaking and editing abilities.

- HorrorNews.net review:
Enter the Dark is a clever, scary, fun piece that delivers with a punch and a cool ending.

- All Things Horror review:

… Enter the Dark proves once again a good ghost story simply needs to put emphasis on the story and not flashy effects or big budgets in order to provide some fun and scares.

Enter the Dark reviews!

The reviews come pouring in:


Planet of Terror
… wonderfully shot and acted and the twist ending was masterfully pulled off by filmmaker Todd Miro. It's definitely worth your time if you get a chance to see it.

Rogue Cinema
…a frightening little slice of haunted house cinema that easily stands on its own for a good old fashioned scare.

The Jaded Viewer
…I admit I got a little freaked out.


more to come...

World Premiere of Enter the Dark

Good News!!

For fans of truly scary movies, you won't want to miss the World Premiere of my first short movie as writer/director, Enter the Dark at the Chicago Horror Film Festival, Sunday nite, Sept 26 at 9:20 pm.

Check it out if you're in the area!

Enter The Dark Trailer

Check it out the all new trailer to Enter The Dark.



Festival submissions are almost completed.  I've entered into Screamfest, Chicago Horror Festival, Terror Film Festival, Slamdance, Sacramento Horror Festival and Shockerfest to name a few.

Fingers crossed...

Enter The Dark

Ok folks, we have a winner...

If you haven't already... check out the opening scene of my new horror short, Enter The Dark. 

Final touches (color correction, sound mixing, end credits) are being made as we speak and festival submissions will start in a couple of weeks. Look for it playing in a festival near you!

Name my Movie!

Ok dear readers... time to get to work.

I've completed principal photography on my horror short movie that up to this point I've been calling Spook Hunt.
After finishing the first rough cut, it has become obvious that the title is not doing the movie justice.

I need another title.

Here is where you come in.

First, read the following synopsis of the movie, watch the new opening scene, and then look over the list of possible names.
Let me know what best matches the feel of the movie and also grabs your attention.

Spook Hunt is a short film that takes you into the dark recesses of a haunted house and the even darker fathoms of the human soul.

Charles has a problem.  There's something in his house scaring his family and it just won't leave them alone.  They've all heard voices, seen dark shapes moving in the shadows, felt that uneasy sensation of being watched.  Finally Charles captures something on his audio recorder that proves they're not all going crazy.  He decides to make a stand, enlisting the help of his long-time buddy, Rob Tupper, to delve into the mystery of his unwanted guest and hopefully send it on its way.  If they can somehow figure out what the entity is and what it wants, maybe they can all finally have some peace.

Rob's worried about his buddy.  He's been acting really strange lately ... well, even stranger than usual.  Rob knows that things have been rough for Charles - struggling to make ends meet in a down economy, dealing with the unexplained disappearance of his brother-in-law, Marcus, and now these claims of some ghost harassing his family.  Rob is skeptical that there's anything paranormal going on, but he agrees to help his friend out if only to find out the real nature of the problem.

With the lights out, they are led on an adventure of paranormal encounters: cold spots, an eerie talking children's book, unexplained apparitions and a final mystery that leads to an unforgettably disturbing ending.

Ok, now to the possible titles:

Elemental Fear
Primal Darkness
Up From the Dark
From the Darkness
Enter the Dark

Turn Out the Lights
Out Go the Lights
The Disembodied
 
Deliver
Deliver the Darkness
Among the Darkness

Among the Shadows

Alone in the Darkness
Don’t Fear the Darkness
Don’t Dread the Night

Dread the Night
Dread of Night
Into the Dead of Night
Into the Dark of Night
Whispers of Dread

Night of the Abyss
Abyss of Night
Into The Abyss
Repossessed
The Inhabitant

Alright, now get to work and VOTE!

Check Out the Updated Spook Hunt Website

We're in the homestretch of shooting Enter The Dark and it was time to give the website an update in preparation for the movie's premiere (hopefully at this year's Screamfest).

There will be more to come as I edit and post the trailer and add some more content throughout.

Spook Hunt Scene 5 Notes - an unwelcome late night visitor

We recently shot scene 5 from my indie short movie, Spook Hunt.  The usual suspects were there to make the evening happen - actors Rob Sandusky & Charles Yoakum, Director of Photography Rob Weiner (with his Canon 7D) and Ben Weiner recording audio.  Oh yeah, and me running around like a goofball trying to do too much as usual.

(Charles pleads his case)

We only had a couple of hours to shoot so I had picked a fairly easy section of scene 5 to cover.  Charles discovers another piece of ghostly "evidence" and tries to convince Rob of it's validity.  Rob is not only not convinced, he's now convinced that Charles is just messing with him, gets pissed off and storms out of the room.  Pretty simple. The boys did a great job of building up the scene and hitting their emotional marks.

(Rob is not impressed)

After the shoot wrapped, I spent the usual hour or so transferring and checking the video and audio files.  Of course, when I finally tried to go to sleep, my head was still swimming with ideas and questions and recapping the evening.  I started thinking about upcoming scenes that we need to shoot and ways to make them better.  Can I make this part scarier, can I build more tension, a better payoff - what if this happened... or they saw this... or heard this...??  So I'm laying in bed at around 1:30 am, filling my head with the scariest shit I can think of to see if it will work in my movie.  I am now in that weird half-sleep state where part of my consciousness has drifted off, while the other part keeps chugging along working on the movie, like a computer that won't shut down.

I change positions in bed so I'm now facing the side of the bed closest to me and I see this staring at me:

 (please leave me alone and kindly visit my neighbors, m'kay)

Well, actually it wasn't exactly that (that is the demon from the Exorcist), it was actually a lot scarier than that and I could hop over to Photoshop and render a more accurate version for you but I really have no desire to force myself to remember that image with any level of detail.

As soon as I see this demon I literally levitate off the bed and propel myself to the opposite side of the bed whereupon I crash into my wife while uttering a totally pathetic shriek.  She is not too happy with me.  I dare not tell her what I've just seen.

I look back to the side of the bed and of course it is no longer there.  I try to convince myself that it was just a trick of my mind.  A left-over spectre from my strange sleep-state.  You think about ghosts, demons and scary shit for long enough and of course your dreams will be filled with them.

This is not the first time my dreams have been plagued by haunted images.  The thing about making horror movies is that they live in your head for years at a time.  You are constantly thinking about the most violent, horrific and terrifying things.  When Lis and I were putting finishing touches on The Commune, I had some horribly messed-up dreams.  Now as I'm trying to wrap up Spook Hunt, I am getting visited again.

However, the thing about this last vision was - it really wasn't a dream.  I did not dream I woke up, rolled over and saw a demon staring at me.  I actually did wake up, roll over and see a demon staring at me.  Now obviously, in my ghostly-obsessed state, my tortured mind must have simply conjured a demonic image where there were only abstract patterns of light and shadow.

Right?

That's what I continue to tell myself every night as I try to doze off to sleep - always keeping one eye on the watch for my unwanted late night visitor.


(... by the way next time, remind me to make a comedy - or at least not shoot a horror film in MY FREAKING HOUSE!!)

Spook Hunt: On Writing

It was 1:57 am.  I had already gotten up once out of bed and dragged my ass in front of my computer, I really didn't want to have to do it again. My brain however didn't care. It kept swirling with ideas, dialogue and shot setups.

Go to sleep please, I told it.

Nope.

I knew it was a losing battle.  The more I tried to shut my brain down, the more ideas kept popping up, and when a good idea floated across, part of my brain kept flashing so I would remember that idea by morning.

Eventually I gave up, plopped in front of the computer and begin writing - or should I say, not so much writing, as brain-dumping all these ideas into Microsoft Word.  You see, I don't really write while I'm at the keyboard, I just self dictate ideas, sentences and dialogue that I've already worked over in my mind time and time again.

My best times for "writing" are either right when I'm drifting off to sleep, or when I'm in the shower. Something about when there's no other distractions allows these thoughts that have been percolating in the dark recesses of my mind to finally float to the surface.  Then it's a mad dash to record them before they sink back down into forgotten darkness. I've written many a blog post with nothing but a towel wrapped around myself - desperately trying to jot the ideas down before the images fade away from memory.

Why I can't write like a normal person (you know, sit in front of the computer, work through an idea and start typing) I really don't know, but this is what I'm stuck with.

So, a number of weeks ago I realized that I would have to re-write (and re-shoot and re-edit) the first two scenes of my movie, Spook Hunt.  It's not that they were horrible, they just were just a little flat. And they were almost 4 minutes long - a sure death sentence for a short film that needs to be 15 minutes or less.

These were two perfectly good scenes where my two characters discuss what's going on and set up what will happen - you know, the dreaded exposition scenes.  I tried to dress them up as much as I could, but I knew it was a losing battle.  After shooting and editing the first two scenes of my movie, I knew they would have to go.  I still didn't know how to fix them however.

Fortunately a good friend gave me great notes that hit it on the head why the scenes weren't working.  One of his criticisms was that the dialogue was too "on the nose", a very typical problem for neophyte screenwriters.

The premise is very simple:  Charles has been hearing and seeing weird things in his house and his wife has freaked out and wants to sell the house - not a good idea in this economy.  He has brought his buddy Rob over to help him investigate and hopefully rid himself of his ghostly problem.  Now obviously there is more going on in the movie (especially the end), but this is how it starts, so I just needed a way to get into the film and set it up.

I had the two guys sitting around talking about the weird sound Charles had captured; when the sound had been recorded, what it could mean, how the sound had effected his family, while they looked at and listened to the sound.  Pretty one-dimensional.  Then I had the two of them discussing the gear they were going to use (a camera, flashlight and digital recorder)  and why it was important to use that gear, and how capturing something on that gear would help solve Charles' problem, all while they got the gear together.  Again, one-dimensional.

Yeah, I added some other stuff to each scene, but it was just window dressing.  The problem is people, especially guys, just do not talk like that. They usually have cross-purposes and talk over each other and change the subject and evade and eventually get back to the subject at hand.  That push and pull is what helps make a scene dynamic.

There was no real conflict or tension in either scene.  Charles is kinda freaked out and desperate, while Rob is concerned -  doesn't make for great drama.

Finally, it came to me that I should just combine the two scenes.  Have Rob listening to the weird sound while Charles is getting gear together. Except Rob isn't really listening to the sound - he's half paying attention to it while texting on the phone and trying to get Charles to go get a drink with his buddies.  Ah, that's better, a little dynamism and tension.  It doesn't take much to bring a scene alive.  Now there is a natural arc to the scene where Rob starts out as skeptical and non-committed but then eventually agrees to help his buddy out.  But of course, to keep some tension going through the next couple of scenes, I added one caveat:  Rob gives him just two hours - then he's dragging his ass out to get some drinks.

The other issue was I just had too many pieces of information crammed into these first two scenes, so my movie was top-heavy.  It was like, 4 minutes of setup and information and plot points and then whammo - 10 minutes of non-stop ghostly action culminating in a wild climax.  So, it was just a matter of paring down those plot points to the essentials in the beginning, eliminating some altogether, and then sprinkling the rest throughout the following ghost-hunting scenes so that I could build a more natural rhythm of tension and release.

This of course meant that I would have to work on not only the first two scenes of my script, but many of the later ones as well, all while I had already shot half of the movie already. 

Now you can understand why my head was swimming with ideas at 1:57 in the morning...

Film is dead

First of all, I love film.

In elementary school I was one of those AV monitor dorks who wheeled the projection equipment into your room and threaded the film whenever your teacher needed a break and forced you to watch that boring volcano documentary again.  I started shooting with Super-8 cameras as a 12-year old and spent many a long night gluing edits together in my dark, noxious-fume-laced-room.  I later finally got my hands on real 16mm equipment as a film major at S.F State.  We Cinema students scoffed at the broadcast arts department kids and their aesthetically inferior crappy-assed video cameras that they were forced to use.  Eventually as a professional video editor, I spent many long hours trying to make video look more like film (Cinelook anybody), but it never really got there.

With its slightly stuttering 24 frames per second, motion picture film suggested another reality altogether different from our own - a place to pour our ideas, our emotions. It was the medium of visual poetry, of dreams. Video on the other hand, presented the harsh, glossy reality of the now. The faster frame rate of 30 frames per second made it appear to our eyes to be a glance not of art, but of our own mediocre everyday reality.  Video was the realm of soap operas, of news, of live events.

I wanted to live in the filmic world of metaphor - of campfire tales and big-screen dreams. I fought the film battle long and hard, but you know, what?

It's over - film is dead!  Long live digital!

Standard film technology is arcane, inefficient and unnecessarily expensive.  Based on 19th century technological advances, celluloid, mechanical shutters and sprockets were exciting stuff back in the day, but c'mon it's time to move on already - we're not still riding horse-drawn buggies people!

Everything behind the camera lens is now under the digital technological influence of Moore's law, which means that it only gets faster, cheaper and better from here on out.

The big knocks against video always had to do with frame rate, resolution, depth of field, latitude and low light sensitivity.  Against the industry standard of 35mm film, video cameras all came up short.

Standard Def Video (regular TV) was embarrassingly deficient in terms of resolution.  There simply were not enough pixels on the screen.  Once High Definition (HD) video was introduced (and now with 2k and 4k), the image sensors on the new cameras could start to approach the rich detail of film.

In recent years, from the lower end cameras (Panasonic DVX100, Panasonic HVX200, Canon HV20, Canon 7D) to the higher-end cameras (Viper, Genesis, F900, Red Epic, Arri Alexa), all these issues have been addressed and now the differences between film and digital video are practically imperceptible. But don't take my word for it - check out this recent shootout of inexpensive digital cameras (like the Canon 7D) vs. 35mm cameras that was overseen by major industry insiders.  Remember, this was a test using some of the cheapest cameras available (the Canon T2i is under $1,000) up against big bad 35mm film!

Then go over to Philip Bloom's site and check out his story about testing out these same cameras for none other than George Lucas.

When you're done with that, fill your head with the news that big-budget disaster film director Roland Emmerich has been testing the new Arriflex Alexa and Red cameras for his next flick.

There will always be a small amount of DPs who will cling to film and fail to see the big picture.  They will continue to bring up issues of latitude and sensitivity and whatever else their engineers can conjure. This is all irrelevant. When you take into account not only the images that digital cameras are able to record today, but also the digital workflow (production, post production, distribution, exhibition) and the economic impact of that workflow there really is no argument.

For the past 10 years or so Hollywood has been forced to adopt a frankensteined workflow for making movies.   Movies have been shot (mostly) in film, then transferred to video tape or digital files for editing, special effects and color-grading, then printed back onto 35mm film for distribution and exhibition.  Hardly efficient or cost effective.  Pioneers in digital cinema like George Lucas (Star Wars II: Attack of the Clones in 2002) were the first to shoot their films digitally and tried to force the theater owners to start installing digital projectors.  However, most of the industry still remained entrenched in old technology, with the DPs and the Theater owners digging their heels in the most.

Just the idea of having to make numerous 35mm prints and ship them all over the country (carbon footprint anyone?)  so some kid can thread them into a projector (introducing dust, scratches and reel changes every 22 minutes) makes my skin crawl.

35mm film as the standard for the motion picture industry is barely viable today and will quickly disappear as Moore's law rips through the antiquated process of recording, editing and viewing motion images.  If today, a $2000 camera can make pretty damn good images that certainly are better than 16mm film (great for indie filmmakers), and a $60,000 camera can make amazing images that easily stand toe to toe with 35mm film (great for mainstream Hollywood), then just imagine what will be available 5 years from now, or 10 years from now.

Just as black and white films still existed after color came out, yes, there will still be some movies shot with traditional celluloid.  But they will be largely irrelevant to the industry as a whole.

And it's not just the old Hollywood guys who are hesitant to change.  When Elisabeth Fies and I talked to our DP about shooting her indie feature, The Commune, a few years ago, he tried to talk us into shooting it on 16mm film instead of on HD.  From his perspective, he knew how to operate the 16mm camera better and knew how to get great images out of it.  That's fine, but as soon as you factored in the economics and efficiency of the digital post production workflow, it became a very silly argument.  He still was able to get us great images and he did it on a Panasonic HVX200 HD camcorder.

I pick on DPs a little bit because they are now usually the last bastion of defense in the war of film vs digital.  They are still gallantly manning their posts as if there is still a war going on.  Some of these guys are grizzled Hollywood veterans who refuse to budge from behind their Panaflex entrenchments.  And I can understand - hey, you're scared, the shit is moving pretty quickly and you're going to actually have to learn something new.  Well waa freaking waa - welcome to my world buddy!

The world of editing and post-production experienced its digital tectonic shift in the 90's.  Avid burst on to the scene and changed the landscape forever - first in the video world, then marching quickly to the world of cinema.  Final Cut then followed, reducing the barrier to entry from $100,000 to $50,000 to under $10,000.  As an editor I started on a Steenbeck, then to a CMX 3600, next to an AVID, Media 100 and Final Cut.

 (editing circa 1985 - hey, where did that missing frame of film go?)

 

(editing circa 2010 - hey, where did my big desk go?)

Along the way I've had to learn Photoshop, After Effects, Motion, Soundtrack Pro along with countless other software programs.  I've dealt with endless formats from Umatic, BetaSP, D2, DigiBeta, DV, DVCAM, HDV, DVCPROHD, and on and on.  Now I live in a tapeless world of P2 and AVCHD and REDCODE RAW and H.264 and ProRes.  It never stops.  The digital revolution is a fast, violent, economics-changing process, and it always looks forward.  Jump onboard or be left in the dust.

I'm still amazed by the folks that still don't get this.  Even people in the biz, people I really respect seem to be living with their head in the sand.  Check out this recent round table discussion from some of the top directors of last year - Peter Jackson, Lee Daniels, Jason Reitman, Kathryn Bigelow, James Cameron, and Quentin Tarantino.  In a nutshell, Tarantino mentions that he'll stop directing once 35mm film is no longer projected in theaters - as if that is still to be determined some time in the future.  Peter Jackson and James Cameron almost fall out of their seats - they can't believe that he has no idea that the industry has already left him behind.  Even Jason Reitman tries to console Tarantino, as if he's a older brother breaking the news that there is no Santa Claus.

So, what does this all mean for you and me - makers and consumers of movies?

It used to be that the cost and complexity of the equipment acted as a filter against just anyone making a movie.  You needed to convince not just yourself but a lot of other people that your idea was good, that you knew what you were doing, that you could direct other people towards your vision.  You also needed a lot of money and a lot of people to help you.  It would take years to learn your craft - from writing to directing to lighting to shooting to audio recording to editing to dealing with labs to color timing to getting your final print.  You either went to film school or learned on the job - crewing your way up through many films.  Either way, this process took years and there was always a cost involved - you paid either in time or money.

Now the equipment is cheap, amazingly high-quality and easy to learn.  The information is readily available. I recently needed to figure out how to set up my Canon 7D for shooting and within 5 minutes I had found a video on YouTube showing me exactly the best way to do that.

The good news is that anyone who wants to make a movie can now make a movie.
The bad news is that anyone who wants to make a movie can now make a movie.

Its a great time to be a filmmaker, and as soon as the digital distribution is all worked out, we may actually even be able to make some money doing it.  For the consumer it means that there will be an incredible array of new voices, new visionary filmmakers producing amazing movies that would never before have been seen.  You'll just need a way to steer through the dreck.  Just because the equipment is cheap doesn't mean most people will be able to make a movie worth watching.  Screenwriting, lighting, acting, editing and all the other factors that go into making a great movie still are the most important skills that people must know before even thinking about picking up that inexpensive digital camera.

Film may be dead, but filmmaking is stronger than ever!

Spook Hunt Scene 4 Preview

Here's a scene 4 sneak peek preview (you'll just have to wait until the whole movie is finished to see the entire scene!)

Keep in mind that the audio has not been mixed yet and some shots are still kinda dark as there has been no color grading yet.

Best to watch at night with the lights out!


Spook Hunt Scene 4 Preview from Todd Miro on Vimeo.

Spook Hunt Scene 4 notes - the perils of microbudget filmmaking

It was 1:30 am Saturday morning.  We had just finished almost five hours of shooting.  Everyone else had gone home and I was transferring and backing up all the media to hard drives.  I pulled up a couple shots to see how they looked and my heart sank to the pit of my stomach.  There was practically nothing there - no usable image at all.  There just was not enough light.

 (Yep - that's my master shot - enough to make a grown man cry)

 (...and there's Charles' close-up Charles?  Charles? anybody there?)

Writer/Director Todd Miro was really pissed off that Producer/Prop Master Todd Miro had slacked on his duties.

This last shoot for Spook Hunt really hammered home to me how much I've been juggling on this project.  I've been wearing the multiple hats of:

Writer
Producer
Director
Post Production Coordinator
Editor
Digital Media Wrangler
Sound Recordist
Production Manager
Craft Services
Set Design
Location Manager
Script Supervisor
Prop Master
Stunt Coordinator

Not to mention, running and maintaining my post-production business, Miro Digital Arts (finishing editing and sound mixing for the latest Goldman Prize videos), and oh yeah, being a father and husband too.

Something had to give - and it finally did Friday night.



Unfortunately, I would not have the services of my DP Rob Weiner for this shoot, as he was in London actually making money.  Not only did I lose his skills and eyes, I lost his camera package as well, so I had spent the last couple of weeks scrambling to find a new Canon 7D, lens, tripod, wireless mics and another Zoom H4n digital audio recorder.

Thankfully, my buddy Eduardo Silva stepped up and took over duties as DP.  I was able to borrow a Canon 7D from another friend, John Pattillo, and my good pal Kristin Nelder procured a wireless mic package and tripod from her work.  It's always important to have a great group of friends to rely on.

The one thing I failed to realize until the last day before the shoot was that with Rob Weiner gone, I not only had to scramble for production gear, but I had lost a major prop and my main lighting source for the movie.

A flashlight.

Rob's son Ben had lent us his high-powered LED flashlight for the last shoot and it had worked great - providing just enough light to bounce off the ceiling and walls to provide a nice dramatic effect on the actors.

But I no longer had that flashlight and I thought the flashlight that I did have (regular Mag-Lite) would be good enough.  Big mistake.

To make matters worse, the scene we'd be shooting would be the most complex scene yet.  It would require me to be essentially "acting" in the scene with the actors, Rob Sandusky and Charles Yoakum.  I would be activating sound cues that they would need to respond to.  I wanted to loosely structure the scene and allow them to improvise in order to capture their real responses on camera.  The problem was that it is extremely challenging for actors to improvise while still keeping their responses short and concise.  I mean, this is just one scene of about ten or so in a short movie.  If it ends up running 4 or 5 minutes it's not really usable.  It's got to run more like 2-3 minutes.

Not only that, but to make things even more difficult on Rob & Charles, I was asking them not only to improvise the scene (keep it short, but hit all the beats),  I was also depending on them to operate the night-vision POV camera and provide all the lighting for the scene by moving the flashlight around.  So, I'm giving direction (and they are having to focus) on not just their performances, but on the framing of the POV cam and on the quality of the lighting based on whether the flashlight is aimed at the pillow, or the bedspread, or the wall, or the ceiling.

It was a lot for all of us to juggle.

Again, this is where it's good to have friends.  Eduardo and Kris were invaluable in making this all happen.  It became obvious that we needed a lot more rehearsal time for the scene, so we just sat there and ran through it until we got all the cues timed out and their performances nailed down.  Kris was very good at offering suggestions that steered the scene where it needed to go.

By the time we started rolling cameras again it was probably 11:00 or so.  I was so focused on getting the scene right and hitting my sound cues (triggered from a laptop just offscreen) that I really didn't pay enough attention to the actual images being recorded.  Rule number one when working with digital media and monitors is to play back a couple of takes on a monitor you trust to make sure you are actually recording a usable image.  In my haste to get the scene done and everyone home at a reasonable hour I never did that.  I had been relying on the monitor that Eduardo had provided, and although it looked dark, I though I could push it in post.  I didn't want to admit that Producer/Prop Master Todd had made a major f@&k-up by not getting another LED flashlight.

After we had shot the scene with the Canon 7D in multiple setups (master shot and close-ups of the actors), we still needed to run through the scene a couple of times with only the POV cam.  You see, much of the movie is seen through their night-vision POV camera as they explore the house at night.  Although I have them roll that camera as I am getting the shots for the main camera, most of that footage is unusable as the night vision often aims at the main camera and can see us all crouching in the dark.

(Gee, d'ya think anyone will notice me?)

So, it becomes necessary to run a couple of "clean" takes where we clear all of the gear (and crew) out of the room and let Rob and Charles go at it alone.

  (ahhhh - that's better)

Flash forward to 1:45 am Saturday morning as I slump in my chair, realizing that most of the shoot is unusable.  Just before I stumble off to bed, a broken and defeated man, I remember to check the last two takes of the POV cam and to my relief they are great - great performances and usable footage.

Armed with this small victory, I vow to do better tomorrow - I will buy a new flashlight.

(a flashlight, a flashlight - my kingdom for a flashlight!)

It's now Saturday evening and the gang are all back it my place ready to shoot the next scene. We are all pretty groggy - it's almost like they never left.  I have to break the news - "Well, the good news (always tell good news first) is that those last two POV takes were great - I have everything I need to tell the story from those takes if I had to.  The bad news is that everything from the main camera is pretty much unusable."  I pull up a couple of shots for them to see and they kinda laugh at how bad it is.

I offer them a choice - we can either move on to the next scheduled scene or we can try to fix my mess from last night.  I show them the brand-new LED flashlight.  They are troopers.  They want to fix the scene.  Since we had rehearsed so much the night before and it is all fresh in our minds, we nail the scene in just a few takes.  Everything I needed from the scene is now on my hard drive.

(oh, there you are Charles)

It's good to have friends like these...