Hi guys

Just thought I'd start a thread to swap shooting stories. It all seems too quiet at the moment. So....

How are folks doing?

I am just completing my screen play and I think I have my main actress. Really hoping I can pull this little film off. It's tough this fictional biz !

I am already shooting, but this is not because I am not a procrastinator. My grand daughter is going away to college next week, and we decided we needed to do this one last DV Challenge before she left. I guess I could go a different direction if this doesn't pan out.

This is my first time at the rodeo and I am really excited about the project! The past week was spent scouting for locations and purchasing props with basically no budget. I began filming two days ago and realized that my imagination exceeded the amount of time and resources that were available, so I am learning on the fly! The challenges so far have been coordinating actor schedules and making sure the technical aspects of light, sound, and filming line up. Excited to finish filming next week and begin the editing process! For the rest of the forum, what have been your challenges?

I have not had a chance to start thinking about it yet; I have a couple of other projects on at the moment, plus I have family from abroad visiting.

Still hoping for some inspiration though!

I'm desperately waiting for a sunny day which is absolutely needed for my script. But all I see is clouds... :(

In mid July a "freak accident" caused a severe impact to the left eye socket and cheekbone. Two places on the face had to be stitched up in the ER and then they discharged me....

....To the OR...

There was a rip (about 15mm long) in the conjuntiva lining over the eyeball that took several stitches (self dissolving), way up under the eyelid and the eyelid was split from the bottom edge of the upper lid that seemed to go pretty high up. Thankfully they had to put me under general anaesthesia for the repairs.

Final stitches on the bottom edge of the eyelid came out about a week and a half ago. Vision in that eye is trying to return to normal but it's still uncertain at this point if I'll get it all back.

I don't know how much chance there is I can get an entry in this time.

Bruce,

Gosh, I would film that eye, stage some accident with glass, kind of backfill the story. Glass somehow cut your eye open, that fits the theme, doesn't it. Gives you a powerful "visceral visual," as I like to call them.

I wrote a script, but Bruce's eye is giving me a whole 'nuther idea. Might have to go a different direction.

And oh, BTW, I hope that eye gets better soon!

How about that, Bruce! You helped a fellow filmmaker! :) Hoping your eye heals quickly and vision is restored.

And aren't eyes the..err..."window" to the soul. Window, like glass? Ok, never mind.

I'm busting myself trying to get a documentary done for the Rode Rockumentary competition, but its all going wrong. Typical enough the first time I have serious audio issues is for a microphone themed competition! Am I allowed to talk about other competitions here? They don't have a wonder and woe venting outlet at the Rode competition you see....

Anyway, I think I'm just going to film one of those "an Irishman, Englishman and a Scotsman walks into a bar..." joke for this one. They'll all be drinking out of glasses. I hope thats thematic enough!

Failing that; are short documentaries actually allowed for the DVC challenge?

You bet, Simon! Any genre.

Wow Bruce, hope things go well for you. That's crazy.

I actually fly for an Ophthalmology group who do mostly cataract and LASIK procedures, so I've heard some of those medical terms.

That being said, as much as I'd LOVE to enter to win the Black Magic camera, I have too much paying work (good thing) at this point to take any time to do anything at this point.

That's always my problem. I make a living at video production, and am usually too busy to do short films.

Oh well. Good luck everyone!

Bruce,

Gosh, I would film that eye, stage some accident with glass, kind of backfill the story. Glass somehow cut your eye open, that fits the theme, doesn't it. Gives you a powerful "visceral visual," as I like to call them.

Well I did have my daughter take a quick still of it when we got home.


I wrote a script, but Bruce's eye is giving me a whole 'nuther idea. Might have to go a different direction.


You guys are just full of ideas. But if it turns out I can "get it together" I hope y'all understand if I take a different direction.

I do appreciate all the commiserating thoughts expressed though, and if one of you takes the suggested idea and runs with it....I'll watch it.

Wow Bruce, hope things go well for you. That's crazy.

Yeah, I thought so too. It's coming along good so far. All the eyelid stitches are out, I guess the ones under the eyelid are dissolving, and it looks like vision is almost back to normal. Biggest concern now is keeping dust and crud out of that eye.

The accident happened just 5 days before I was to have laser surgery in that eye to seal off some blood vessel leakage. Rescheduled of course.

You win the prize Bruce for Tales of Woe. I hope you get through this quick. That one eye thing is a real drag -- you might remember me going through Bells Palsy a few years back. Patch over eye for weeks. Glad to recovery is going quick !!

Yes, Chris.

I remember. And I thought it was very courageous of you to share the videos you did.

I was definitely pulling for you.

Here I am, getting my stuff packed. Filming tomorrow for the comp, I just got one day to film (7 hours) and my mic has a crackle on it and I'm missing a fire wire lead. This is my first comp and its stressful.

@Bruce - I don't know you, but I hope you eye is fixed and heals well, I know what its like when the unexpected happens.

Ah, I remember those days, Mark...the days that I wondered what was wrong with me that I would voluntarily put myself under so much stress. Hang tough; may your mic be crackle free and the filming a great 7 hours! :)

Wow Bruce, that is certainly a tale of Woe.....hope all get better !

Well due to scope, location and actor issues I'm now on my 3rd script but this just fits nicely and is the easiest to shoot. Shooting all day Sunday, with no chance of pick ups, so fingers crossed all goes to plan!

Now, back to finishing script 3...

Bruce's eye did take me in a whole 'nuther direction. But how was I going to find the location I needed? I gave up after three hours of driving around, and getting chased off of two properties, but on my way to pick up my kids from school, I passed by this house. A promise to do a photo session of the lady's grandchildren secured this cool location.

Bruce,

That looks really painful! Hope you are healing up well and that your family is taking good care of you!

Glad to see that people are sharing their stories.

Quick question- is swearing allowed in the film?

Am really looking forward to seeing all the submissions! I am trying to edit a cohesive story and then have to do some additional location shoots to fill in some holes. It's so funny, because when I thought about the film, I had so many ideas and when I went to shoot, it looks so amateurish! Kind of like a telenovela or soap opera. Hopefully with some color correction and quick edits I can salvage some footage!

With two weeks left it's going to be tight!

Toni

We had some discussion about "rating levels" of films submitted several years back. There has never been a specific rule about it, but most have submitted GP rated at most films in the past. In the end, good taste seems to be the rule, and those that don't exhibit good taste, likely pay for it in loss of votes. So you just have to ask yourself the question, does the shot or story line require it, or is it just for shock value.

I by no means want to censor stuff. It should be up to you.

Bruce, that looks like you had a really nasty accident. I am glad to hear you are on the mend. Whether you do a film or not, it seems you are a winner just for recovering from that. Hope you are all better soon.

Chris, i hope you enjoy your last film with your granddaughter, at least for now. That should be fun.

Glad everyone else is posting here about their trials and tribulations. It is good to keep up with everyone's progress and plans.

I have gone in a completely different direction than usual, jumping from UWOL to the DVC. It has been a huge challenge, first developing a script and then gathering suitable materials for the film. It is going well, but taking way longer than expected. Still, I feel I am pushing my comfort zone, and that is always a good thing.

Ruth

Hey everyone !!

How goes it ?


We shot out script 3 on Sunday. Everyone did a great job on what was the hottest day of the year (Well into the 30's)....Other than desiccating all went well and I'm into the rough cut.

This has been great fun thus far!

Wow sounds like an eventful DVChallenge this time around! Bruce, I'm sorry to hear about your eye accident and I hope you have a speedy and full recovery!

Dick, that location looks amazing and I can't wait to see it in your film. I never thought of trading a location for photos but that's a great idea I might try one day!

My crew and I actually just finished editing last night, after shooting on the two hottest days of the year like you Mat. We still have lots of sound and color to do but it's nice to see the film coming together.

While I'm at it, I have a quick question about credits for Lorinda or all those in the know — Can I take some of the credit time from the end of the film for the front title credit? Our film is 5:00 on the nose but we don't need very long for credits at the end. Can I split the time between front and back or does it not work like that? Thanks! Can't wait to see everyone's submissions!

I have final scene to shoot. The rest of the film is pieced together in a rough edit. I need to come up with a way to do something in the final scene, and still haven't figured out how to do it. Got some ideas. so we shall see.....

I am not trying to get you to give anything away Chris, but you have me very intrigued! Is it some kind of VFX shot or complicated blocking you're trying to figure out? I'd love to know but if you think it will spoil it I will try and be patient.

Mitchell, I think I will save it for the moment. But if I get desparate, might ask for help out there.

Still haven't shot anything because of bad weather and busy work schedule, but I have high hopes for this weekend. Yet again I plan to shoot a sort of a visual poem.

Well I have an ungraded edit and it seems to be going down well with folks! - Very pleased with the production values, my cast and crew did an amazing job to say there was little film experience between them.

Just some 'scene glue' to find now to get the middle and end of the story nicely fixed together !

Onwards :-)

Ok, so I feel foolish for not checking the rules before I asked my question, but I see now from the DVchallenge wordpress site, that title credits at the beginning DO count as run time. Sorry for asking before looking.

Mat, I checked out your winning entry to UWOL #16, it was gorgeous! Really excited to see your DVC submission!

Hi Mitchell

Uwol 16 seems like an age ago now but thanks. Yep wildlife TV is my normal stomping ground so this is a little different. This has been a great platform to start pulling a short film team together for more fictional work! - Hopefully this will be a start of more to come.

It's also nice to have it 95% complete already. Can't quite believe we managed to shoot everything last sunday....

Mat

Ok, so I feel foolish for not checking the rules before I asked my question, but I see now from the DVchallenge wordpress site, that title credits at the beginning DO count as run time. Sorry for asking before looking.
You weren't ignored, Mitchell...I just didn't see your question earlier. :)

Hoping everyone who signed up is still in the game. There is PLENTY of time if you haven't got started yet so don't give up! We have seen some fabulous entries over the years back when we were only given 10 days so...no excuses!! :)

Today thought of a new script, will shoot the material during the next week and edit during the following weekend.
I hope I'll manage to do it. I'll have no actors this time, so this is a new kind of a challenge for me.

I'm conservatively putting the over/under on defenestrations for DVC 22 at 2 1/2. Does that sound about right?

Andrew,

Chris probably knows what you mean. He's a lawyer and has an education and probably gambling clients. But the rest of us DVCers are used to smaller words.

On a positive note, we shot 90% of our location footage before being locked out by the location owner who probably was expecting big movie stars on her property instead of our rag tag team of miscreants. (Andrew inspired that big word.) Tired but happy we survived the weekend.

Sorry guys, just a little ole night school lawyer here, so I had to look that one up on Wikipedia..... With 40 entries, only two bodies through windows ??? You know there is going to be a lot of breaking, but only two or three through windows ? I bet sugar futures went way up with the announcement of the theme....

Love hearing the stories! I have shot about 90% of footage-just waiting on two actors to return from vacation to finish up their little bit. Admittedly, this is by far the biggest creative challenge I have ever pushed myself into doing. Thanks for providing a creative outlet for some of my ideas! My goal is to get at least 30 different glass shots/references into the movie. However, I can guarantee that not one of them will include a body going through glass or glass shattering. Since most of my movie has been shot at night, I think the biggest challenge will be in editing with eliminating the noise reduction. Deadline is coming fast!!

I'm in panic mode now, I've shot 2 hours of footage in a 7 hour shoot (week ago) and then shot an extra hour a few days later which were just pick-ups or re-shoots. Man - it was stuff work filming, just me doing everything as a one man crew, didn't realize you could have a crew or cast. Having a crew would had made life easier. No spoilers at the moment.

Now I have 3 hours of nice footage stuff have half edited and still trying to squeeze it in 5mins.

Ok, I filmed something this morning. I'll try to get it edited some time tomorrow.

I doubt it's going to be in the running, but I'll submit it for the fun of it. Are we going to be uploading to Vimeo the same as with the DVC Christmas Challenge?

Well I'm getting there. Because of the nature of the project I might have to use a little archive footage but it's hard to explain without giving the game away. Lorinda, can I PM you to check what I'm doing is ok? What address should I use?

Henry

Shoot me the details through the DVi address you'll find in my profile, Henry. I'll be glad to have a look! Better yet, send to thedvchallenge@gmail.com, then if we need to ask head guy Dylan it'll be right there. :)

Simon, submissions can be on YouTube or Vimeo.

Just wondering if this is a HD only contest or can we up-load SD. Would SD be frowned up-on. I will be uploading via a mobile phone - trying to keep the numbers low.

Format doesn't matter, Mark; upload any way you want!

So the day before yesterday I needed to shoot some scenes for my dvc entry, which I'm doing all solo with no actors.
.
I had planned to shoot at: a tiny forest river, an industrial sand canyon, a forest lake and an abandoned soviet weather monitoring station in the woods.

So after I came home after work, I took my trusty MTB, camera and tripod and headed out into the woods. The terrain is a mix of comfy dirt roads, steep and sometimes muddy pine forest trails, some lakes, sand dunes and small hills, and abandoned soviet structures and a motobike training ring.

The river part was easy (at least getting down to it). I battled with my tripod sinking in the dunes for a while, but finally I took the shot. I had planned to take a little sun too, but unfortunately it had hid behind the trees at that time, and I didn't have the time to wait for it to get in the right spot, because it was already evening and the sun was setting quick.

So I hurried to the next location (fell down the bike once, because my feet were slippery with river mud), but then had to return back to the river, because I had left in the river the one essential prop my entry needs.
Almost fell again, because the coast is very steep and slippery with mud.

Filmed all in the sand canyon, and headed towards the lake. The sun was really low now and I saw just one place where it still was shining on, unfortunately it was a good 16 meters (~52ft) drop. But then luckily I saw a tiny patch of the last sunlight with just a ~2 meter jump. Had to overexpose the shot though, because it was already getting dark despite the last rays. When I had to get back, I remembered that a 2 meter drop is a lot easier to jump from than to scale with all the gear. :)

Then I headed into the woods to find the abandoned soviet weather station (I needed to shoot its barbed wire fence), but I took the wrong trail and had to get off-road into the woods. Luckily I heard a train in the distance and new the direction to take.

When at last I found the location, I saw that damned thieves had stolen all barbed wire... So from then it was a long ride home. At the end of the day I had had a really good workout and 3/4 of my day's planned shoots taken, which is not bad.

So now I'm looking for another barbed wire fence. I'll check out some industrial sites today.


p.s. Attached a pic which I took on my crappy camera phone soon after finishing filming at the lake.

From my calculations by reading the forum I see that about 12 of us are working on films right now. Am getting so excited!

Andris, man, you had crazy adventures!! I love Latvia! Was there is 2009 and really enjoyed the people of your country!

Tomorrow night is the wrap party and I still have to finish color-correcting and get the final edits from my composer. It really is cutting it close.

Really looking forward to all the entries!

T

Then I headed into the woods to find the abandoned soviet weather station

I'd like to watch a movie about you making a movie!


p.s. Attached a pic which I took on my crappy camera phone soon after finishing filming at the lake.

Gorgeous!

the rest of us DVCers are used to smaller words.

I learn all my big words on DVInfo.net!

Andrew and Toni, thanks for the comments! :)

Today I shot in 8 more locations, and again forgot my essential prop in two of them. Had to bike all the way back from the next location. Now the first thing I always do is to collect the props, because I won't forget the gear.

This was also a good opportunity to improve on my tripod skills, but a bit too much of assembly and disassembly to my taste. T'was like in the army - get the gear, shoot, roll everything up and bike to the next.

So I've got 15 scenes and various sounds shot, now on to editing.

Okay, so I'm beginning the editing right about now. No choice, but to finish until the deadline.
I have to attend a conference on Tuesday, so I'll probably do most of it there between the presentations.

Oooh my goodness! I am so close to getting on the Wall of Shame here! The timing has just been madness! With school getting back into session, I've been traveling and performing at colleges & universities across the country since the start of this DVC! The response has been tremendous - as Dick Mays can attest to on Facebook - but the tour's already been extended, and I barely got home last night.

I'm shooting a few test scenes this morning and hoping my idea will fly; but then I have to go shoot a wedding later today. Hopefully I'll be able to corral some actors and crew by today - then we'll get together tomorrow and try to shoot something, and have it in the editing room by tomorrow evening.

Whew! Am refusing to get on the WoS without a fight here. Going down to the wire! What time is it due again? It's due on the 4th at 11:59pm, right? Not on the 4th at 12:00am?? That makes a pretty big difference ;)