Lady X Begins Her Journey!

Ken Tanaka · June 2nd, 2003, 11:00 AM

<<<-- Originally posted by Nori Wentworth : Nice...

I'm with Lady X on this one; Black jelly-beans are sick!

-Nori -->>>

Actually, I thought it might be a suppository. That's why she left it on the seat.

Even sicker.

-Ken-

Nori Wentworth · June 2nd, 2003, 11:17 AM

HAHAHAHA...

I can't believe you made me laugh on a monday morning before my coffee...

Paul Sedillo · June 2nd, 2003, 06:22 PM

<<<-- Originally posted by Alex Knappenberger :

"Respect mah auth-or-it-ay." -->>>

You caught that also. Thought I was hearing Cartman for a second! :)

Paul Sedillo · June 2nd, 2003, 06:25 PM

<<<-- Originally posted by Imran Zaidi : Wow, a prop that'll blow away a helicopter? Are we all going to have to start one-upping one another on the props? By the time we get to Episode 10 someone's going to need to blow up a car or two, and by the final episode, someone's going to get LadyX to glide in on a Space Shuttle. -->>>

That is kind of what I was thinking since I have the last slot. Well, I do live in Houston, so maybe I can score a ride on the shuttle. Better yet we could do some kind of crazy stunt that would include the Enron building. It is sitting there nearly vacant. Hmmm....

Imran Zaidi · June 2nd, 2003, 09:30 PM

Haha... you could get some footage of the shuttle flying away, and then cut to Lady X coming down with a parachute...

Make sure she signs a waiver!

Alex Knappenberger · June 2nd, 2003, 10:01 PM

Heh Paul, I thought thats what it sounded like, also...

How did you afford/how much did it cost to get the helicopter in there?

Paul Sedillo · June 2nd, 2003, 10:07 PM

Well what John is not sharing with the rest of the class, is that he was funded by a "major" Hollywood money man. Of course this has not been confirmed, just speculation in the trade rags. :)

Dylan Couper · June 2nd, 2003, 11:31 PM

<<<-- Originally posted by John Locke : Blow up a car? Shhhh. Dylan might be listening. -->>>

No comment at this time.

<<<-- Originally posted by Alex Knappenberger :

"Respect mah auth-or-it-ay." -->>>

Same thought here as well.

Nick Glenister · June 3rd, 2003, 01:37 AM

John,

I hope this is not considered poor etiquette and if so i apologise but i'm really interested to know how much it cost you to film this episode?

I'm really keen to try something like this myself but as i've never done it before i'm at a loss on where to start.

I have an XL1 and powerful PC for editing so don't need to shell out for those

Congrats on a great first episode.

Regards

Nick

John Locke · June 3rd, 2003, 01:46 AM

Thanks, Nick. No problem with the question as far as I'm concerned.

The helicopter was actually pretty cheap. Rik Sanchez told me about it. We rented it for a 15 minute tour which came out to about the same cost as a night on the town for two. It would've been even cheaper, but I didn't want to share the tour with another couple...so basically I paid for four passengers.

I'd say the whole cost came to between $350 and $400. About half went to the chopper.

The two guns are actually cigarette lighter metal replicas...they cost less than $10 each. After that, the only expense was Lady X's hat, scarf, sunglasses, and shoes...all pretty cheap.

I got burned recently on another project that was cancelled at the last minute recently...so I was determined to do this as cheaply as possible.

I forgot to tell you guys about one thing that "almost" happened...I know a guy here in Tokyo who is friends with someone who's high-ranking, maybe the prez, I think, at Aston-Martin Japan. He asked for permission on our behalf to use a Vanquish and they, unbelievably, said okay. And wouldn't you know it, it rained for about 10 days straight. Dang.

The lesson is...if you don't ask, you don't get.

Rik Sanchez · June 3rd, 2003, 02:59 AM

John,
very cool video, I showed it to Rob last night and he loved it also. I'm glad you were able to use the helicopter, it looked great, I wish they had those heli-tours in Osaka.

Very nice work using the V-8, I wonder how many people will run out and buy one now for their Lady X video :)

Congrats to everyone who are putting the Lady X Project together, it has gotten off to a great start.

Nick Glenister · June 3rd, 2003, 04:58 AM

Thanks for the info John.

What actors did you use? where they known to you or did you contact an agency? I have no idea how i would contact some people who would be interested in doing some very short films, any ideas would be appreciated?

Regards

Nick

John Locke · June 3rd, 2003, 05:10 AM

Nick,

I found Lady X through an online classified ad that I placed for a movie I was planning to shoot previously but that got cancelled. I made it clear that the role was not for porn and in doing that got several responses from actresses with amateur short film experience. Mari Iwasaki got the role, then turned out to also be very helpful in arranging things that required a Japanese-speaker, so she became associate producer.

She's been in over a dozen short films, so she has quite a network of acting friends. She contacted Gen Mouri to play the "Bad Guy" and "Security Agent" role. As for the Number 02, Mike Galbraith, he works in my office and has never acted before. In fact, he didn't have much time, so I just fed him the lines one by one and he'd repeat them back to me. Finally, Edward Baffoe is a manager of a restaurant here in Tokyo and I met him there last Christmas Eve. I was carrying my camera with me and he came over to ask about it. By the end of the conversation, he said he'd like to be in a film so I told him I'd call him whenever a part came up. He's also never acted before...and was fed the lines one by one (unfortunately he got cut out almost completely).

I think considering the time constraints and lack of preparation (no rehearsals and in most cases only a bit of action scripted) they did a good job. Especially in the office scenes since none of them were filmed together at the same time. All that interaction is me interacting with them one on one, on different days, then edited together. I've never smoked so many cigarettes in my life!

Bottom line is they all volunteered to do it for free...and I appreciate that.

If you're going for low budget, I recommend you find an experienced actor for the key role, partner up with them or at least make them an associate producer and then let them help with the casting.

Imran Zaidi · June 3rd, 2003, 06:53 AM

Heh - 'Associate Producer' - anyone ever see "State and Main" with Alec Baldwin, William H. Macy and Philip Seymour Hoffman?

Funny reference to the shady title of 'Associate Producer'...

John Locke · June 3rd, 2003, 07:01 AM

I didn't mean to imply anything negative about the title...Mari was a HUGE help and she deserved credit. :)

Matt Batea...we've solved your problem. Go to the episode 01 page and you'll see that there is now a web poster that you have to click to get the movie to play. That was a good suggestion since we found it was a problem checking in on the number of views and reviews (not like I WANT to see them...yikes) without loading the film each time.

June 2nd, 2003, 06:22 PM	#18
Paul Sedillo Major Player Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Houston, TX Posts: 607	<<<-- Originally posted by Alex Knappenberger : "Respect mah auth-or-it-ay." -->>> You caught that also. Thought I was hearing Cartman for a second! :) __________________ Paul Sedillo Image::Studio http://www.image-studio.com Houston, Texas

June 2nd, 2003, 06:25 PM	#19
Paul Sedillo Major Player Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Houston, TX Posts: 607	<<<-- Originally posted by Imran Zaidi : Wow, a prop that'll blow away a helicopter? Are we all going to have to start one-upping one another on the props? By the time we get to Episode 10 someone's going to need to blow up a car or two, and by the final episode, someone's going to get LadyX to glide in on a Space Shuttle. -->>> That is kind of what I was thinking since I have the last slot. Well, I do live in Houston, so maybe I can score a ride on the shuttle. Better yet we could do some kind of crazy stunt that would include the Enron building. It is sitting there nearly vacant. Hmmm.... __________________ Paul Sedillo Image::Studio http://www.image-studio.com Houston, Texas

June 2nd, 2003, 10:07 PM	#22
Paul Sedillo Major Player Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Houston, TX Posts: 607	Well what John is not sharing with the rest of the class, is that he was funded by a "major" Hollywood money man. Of course this has not been confirmed, just speculation in the trade rags. :) __________________ Paul Sedillo Image::Studio http://www.image-studio.com Houston, Texas

June 2nd, 2003, 11:31 PM	#23
Dylan Couper Wrangler Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Vancouver, British Columbia Posts: 8,314	<<<-- Originally posted by John Locke : Blow up a car? Shhhh. Dylan might be listening. -->>> No comment at this time. <<<-- Originally posted by Alex Knappenberger : "Respect mah auth-or-it-ay." -->>> Same thought here as well. __________________ Need to rent camera gear in Vancouver BC? Check me out at camerarentalsvancouver.com

June 3rd, 2003, 01:46 AM	#25
John Locke Retired DV Info Net Almunus Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: Austin, TX USA Posts: 2,882	Thanks, Nick. No problem with the question as far as I'm concerned. The helicopter was actually pretty cheap. Rik Sanchez told me about it. We rented it for a 15 minute tour which came out to about the same cost as a night on the town for two. It would've been even cheaper, but I didn't want to share the tour with another couple...so basically I paid for four passengers. I'd say the whole cost came to between $350 and $400. About half went to the chopper. The two guns are actually cigarette lighter metal replicas...they cost less than $10 each. After that, the only expense was Lady X's hat, scarf, sunglasses, and shoes...all pretty cheap. I got burned recently on another project that was cancelled at the last minute recently...so I was determined to do this as cheaply as possible. I forgot to tell you guys about one thing that "almost" happened...I know a guy here in Tokyo who is friends with someone who's high-ranking, maybe the prez, I think, at Aston-Martin Japan. He asked for permission on our behalf to use a Vanquish and they, unbelievably, said okay. And wouldn't you know it, it rained for about 10 days straight. Dang. The lesson is...if you don't ask, you don't get. __________________ John Locke SursumFilms.com

June 2nd, 2003, 11:00 AM	#16
Ken Tanaka Retired DV Info Net Almunus Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Chicago, IL Posts: 6,943	<<<-- Originally posted by Nori Wentworth : Nice... I'm with Lady X on this one; Black jelly-beans are sick! -Nori -->>> Actually, I thought it might be a suppository. That's why she left it on the seat. Even sicker. -Ken-

June 2nd, 2003, 11:17 AM	#17
Nori Wentworth Wrangler Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Kelowna, B.C. Canada Posts: 217	HAHAHAHA... I can't believe you made me laugh on a monday morning before my coffee...

June 2nd, 2003, 09:30 PM	#20
Imran Zaidi Trustee Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Orlando, FL Posts: 1,315	Haha... you could get some footage of the shuttle flying away, and then cut to Lady X coming down with a parachute... Make sure she signs a waiver!

June 2nd, 2003, 10:01 PM	#21
Alex Knappenberger High School Student Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Canton, Ohio, USA Posts: 609	Heh Paul, I thought thats what it sounded like, also... How did you afford/how much did it cost to get the helicopter in there?

June 3rd, 2003, 01:37 AM	#24
Nick Glenister Regular Crew Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: UK - Norfolk Posts: 95	John, I hope this is not considered poor etiquette and if so i apologise but i'm really interested to know how much it cost you to film this episode? I'm really keen to try something like this myself but as i've never done it before i'm at a loss on where to start. I have an XL1 and powerful PC for editing so don't need to shell out for those Congrats on a great first episode. Regards Nick

June 3rd, 2003, 02:59 AM	#26
Rik Sanchez ChorizoSmells Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Osaka, Japan Posts: 424	John, very cool video, I showed it to Rob last night and he loved it also. I'm glad you were able to use the helicopter, it looked great, I wish they had those heli-tours in Osaka. Very nice work using the V-8, I wonder how many people will run out and buy one now for their Lady X video :) Congrats to everyone who are putting the Lady X Project together, it has gotten off to a great start. __________________ ChorizoSmells Video Barrio Tamatsukuri, Osaka, JAPAN

June 3rd, 2003, 04:58 AM	#27
Nick Glenister Regular Crew Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: UK - Norfolk Posts: 95	Thanks for the info John. What actors did you use? where they known to you or did you contact an agency? I have no idea how i would contact some people who would be interested in doing some very short films, any ideas would be appreciated? Regards Nick

June 3rd, 2003, 05:10 AM	#28
John Locke Retired DV Info Net Almunus Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: Austin, TX USA Posts: 2,882	Nick, I found Lady X through an online classified ad that I placed for a movie I was planning to shoot previously but that got cancelled. I made it clear that the role was not for porn and in doing that got several responses from actresses with amateur short film experience. Mari Iwasaki got the role, then turned out to also be very helpful in arranging things that required a Japanese-speaker, so she became associate producer. She's been in over a dozen short films, so she has quite a network of acting friends. She contacted Gen Mouri to play the "Bad Guy" and "Security Agent" role. As for the Number 02, Mike Galbraith, he works in my office and has never acted before. In fact, he didn't have much time, so I just fed him the lines one by one and he'd repeat them back to me. Finally, Edward Baffoe is a manager of a restaurant here in Tokyo and I met him there last Christmas Eve. I was carrying my camera with me and he came over to ask about it. By the end of the conversation, he said he'd like to be in a film so I told him I'd call him whenever a part came up. He's also never acted before...and was fed the lines one by one (unfortunately he got cut out almost completely). I think considering the time constraints and lack of preparation (no rehearsals and in most cases only a bit of action scripted) they did a good job. Especially in the office scenes since none of them were filmed together at the same time. All that interaction is me interacting with them one on one, on different days, then edited together. I've never smoked so many cigarettes in my life! Bottom line is they all volunteered to do it for free...and I appreciate that. If you're going for low budget, I recommend you find an experienced actor for the key role, partner up with them or at least make them an associate producer and then let them help with the casting. __________________ John Locke SursumFilms.com

June 3rd, 2003, 06:53 AM	#29
Imran Zaidi Trustee Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Orlando, FL Posts: 1,315	Heh - 'Associate Producer' - anyone ever see "State and Main" with Alec Baldwin, William H. Macy and Philip Seymour Hoffman? Funny reference to the shady title of 'Associate Producer'...

June 3rd, 2003, 07:01 AM	#30
John Locke Retired DV Info Net Almunus Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: Austin, TX USA Posts: 2,882	I didn't mean to imply anything negative about the title...Mari was a HUGE help and she deserved credit. :) Matt Batea...we've solved your problem. Go to the episode 01 page and you'll see that there is now a web poster that you have to click to get the movie to play. That was a good suggestion since we found it was a problem checking in on the number of views and reviews (not like I WANT to see them...yikes) without loading the film each time. __________________ John Locke SursumFilms.com