Hey Everyone, prepare for a novel :D

So this was truly a collaborative effort. Juan, Josh (my two actors) and I brainstormed for a day around the theme, and we decided we wanted to do a narrative and incorporate the theme into that. We decided on the basic plot "character wants something but doesn't know how to get it, so he looks for instructional video" Our twist would be that the video wouldn't directly reference what the character wants so they improvise. We also wanted it to be gay themed and racy, but PG-13 and campy. Kinda John waters-ish. We came up with spanking and ran from there. Josh and I knocked out the script in 3 days from the outline.

The only professional actor in the piece is Josh (the chubby guy with the long hair), and the only crew with experience was my awesome DP brother, Vinnie. The rest of the cast and crew we coerced into acting with food, alcohol and delusions of grandeur. We originally had a different person as the instructional video narrator, but he got stage fright, so we demoted him to boom operator. Luckily Shanti was a sport and did a dual role. Bonita I called two days before and she was thrilled to play the friend/neighbor, although she butchered her last line for about 10 takes :). I also had to put Josh's pale pink American Apparel undies (yes they are mens!) in because I found them hilarious.

Tech specs: Shot on a 7D and 550D with audio going to a Tascam dr-100. Cut and corrected in premiere pro. It was my first time operating a 7D for video so I missed focus a couple of times :(. it was also my first time using premiere since version 2.0. My awesome DP brother did the color correction and I scoured the net for music.

Enjoy!

Hi Jay.

Loved the cinematography, particularly in the conversation on the steps. The dialogue was very nicely written and performed as well, although the last section following the youtube video did feel a little perfunctory compared to what had gone before.

Overall it was a really fun, campy little story and I can definitely see the John Waters inspiration in there. Well done!

Jay,

My kids spilled a drink on my laptop and I think my left speaker is not operating at full volume. When the music came in, I could hear it, but before then I couldn't make out the audio at all. Probably captured mono audio to the left channel is my guess.

Looks like a how to enjoy a spanking video, with some nice acting performances, sorry I am audioless.
Pull that audio clip into Audition and convert it to stereo.

I'm happy to see your entry push the envelop by taking on an unconventional practice.
There is defense in numbers!

Hi Jay. Your lead actor is aces (I am also envious of his hair). I really liked the stairs conversation - the dialogue felt really natural and unforced. In fact, the whole thing felt natural - nobody looked like they were "acting", rather that they were going about their daily lives and you happened to be passing by with your camera. If I was going to criticise anything, it'd be that the end felt a little rushed (but only a little, and that's me being picky).;-)

I agree with George that the acting looked very natural and how it could have been IRL.
I too think that the end part after the youtube video was a bit rushed, but it's just a feeling. The stairs dialogue was great, but the railing in front of the actress's face looked a bit awkward. I would have preferred her face not hidden behind it.
Funny little video all in all. :)

I was fooled. I thought that was a girl in the beginning. In the next scene it slowly dawned on me that it was a guy. The Crying Game meets DVinfo.net...
I also thought the acting was very good and the last scene wrapped it up nicely.

George, your comment made Josh's day!

Dick, I had some audio trouble. I was gonna edit and reupload but I didn't know if that was within the rules?

Thanks for the comments guys!