FORGE: A Feature Film by 500 Cuts

So now that what I consider to be the filmmaker’s highest obligation has been fulfilled (screening the movie for everyone who worked on it and supported it), what’s next?

I’ve sent copies to a few places including Traction Media, Protozoa Pictures, and Portland’s own Seth Sonstein who has a Midas touch when it comes to finding distribution for projects.  If a distributor or rep company put a few more bucks into finishing, the movie could do ok at festivals.  I’m extremely proud of what we’ve accomplished, but it’s important to be realistic about what it takes to get a movie played out there.

So, a few months of rest to get my teaching chops back on par, and then spend the rest of the year getting FORGE out there.  Oh, and maybe I’ll try writing a novel… a lot cheaper and nobody waiting for it to get done!

When you work on big, multi-layered project like a movie, you hit several major finishing points… kind of like the end of “Return of the King.” Pardon the dork movie reference (as opposed to a movie dork reference which would be something from Truffaut), but it totally fits. You arrive at a number of stages where you could call the movie “over.” But unlike “Return of the King” I’m not adding additional endings, I’m making technical adjustments.

After the first completion, the movie is watchable for 85% of the people out there. That is to say that 85% of people wouldn’t notice any difference if you made fixes. But you make fixes anyway. Then you hit a spot where 90% of people wouldn’t notice, then 95%. But you keep tweaking the movie, you know why? Because all of your friends – other writers and filmmakers, the people whose opinions really matter – are the people who fall in the 98% and above category!

But I’m “finished” enough to book a screening!  I’m having lunch with Seth on Thursday so I’ll let you all know what I can work out with him.  I’m sure it’ll be a few weeks so we have time to promote it, but it’ll be great to get everyone together.  Cast and crew will be in attendance!  We’ll see the movie at the Clinton Street, then have a wrap party at Dots.  Sound good?

I’ll also be posting some “before and afters” over the next few days to show a little bit of the process.  And check out TheFORGEProject on Facebook.  Become a fan!

VFX plate before

Finished VFX frame grab.

Things are really making strides, now.  I feel like I should have been at this point months ago, but the results are looking good, so I can’t argue.  I hope to screen the movie by the end of February.  The delays have only improved the project so I’m not complaining.

I’m only anxious because I’m dying to do it all again on another idea!  Why is filmmaking so frustrating and satisfying all at once?  And why do I like it so much for that reason?

They call it “the sickness.”  And I have it.

Hey everybody.  The movie is so close to completion that I can taste it.  It’s the refining touches that make the difference now.  I’ve learned so much in this process of working with visual effects that I almost want to start over!  I actually have started from scratch on a few shots, but I can’t get too comfortable with that because the movie needs to get done.

Here’s why…

When you’re a small-time filmmaker, you often start the process alone, and finish alone.  But in the middle, even on a micro production, dozens of people are involved in the process.  Sometimes when you’re isolated in post-production, you feel like you have all the time in the world, and you tweak the picture ad nauseum.  It’s important to remember that those who helped you are waiting for the results.  The longer you take, the more selfish you look!  To those who helped me with FORGE:  I am working to make your work look and sound the best it can!  Just hang in there, and we’ll have a screening party as soon as possible.  I promise not to noodle with stuff for all eternity.

I really like the movie, I’m not tired of it or sick of working on it, but I want it done so we can watch it together and start thinking about the next one!

I’m ticking shots off the list! Feels good that the movie is coming together. I’m doing my best to get all the effects shots filled in just so there’s a complete version of the movie by the end of year, even if many of the effects shots get replaced in the long run.

The locked date for my sabbatical presentation is November 18th at 4:45 in Room 263 at the Art Institute of Portland, 1122 NW Davis. The talk will go for 45 minutes with Q&A to follow. If the Q&A period runs over, we will move to 364 to finish up. Hope to see you there!

As part of my sabbatical obligations, I need to bring my experiences from the movie back to the Art Institute community.  I’ll be giving a 1 hour talk about the process which will include behind-the-scenes clips and scenes from the film.  The exact date has not been confirmed, but it’s looking like November 11th or 12th.  For those of you associated with the school, that’s week 6.

The presentation will be followed by Q&A.

The official full length screening of FORGE will take place in early January.  Why the delays?  (insert time is money speech here:  less money = more time)

Keep an eye out for the trailer release later today.

Forge Scenes 38 – 41 from 500 Cuts on Vimeo.

After John (Jeffree Newman) kills some thugs with The Tech, Paul (Luke Clements) scrambles to grab the keys to their car. To his surprise, Amanda (Jana Lee Hamblin) has come looking for him. He does his best to convince her everything is fine. He returns to the lab to find Jimmy (Alexander Mendeluk) and John have cleaned up. Dinner conversation isn’t what it used to be in the aftermath.

Usual Disclaimers: The mix, color correction, and vfx are all temp.

I sent off a WIP copy of the movie to Sundance last Friday.  They should get it tomorrow.  I’m also prepping a copy of the film to send to Cinetic, a rep company.  We’ll see how that goes.  I’m not optimistic about getting into Sundance… not because the movie isn’t good, but because they don’t really handle small pictures anymore.  A film like Primer from 2004 only got in because the guy paid a rep company to hit the review board hard with PR.  I don’t know if that’ll work  for me because A) I don’t have any money to pay a rep company.  And B) It’s difficult to find a rep company that isn’t out to swindle you.

Despite full anticipation of rejection, I’m feeling a huge weight off now that the movie has been sent out at least once.  So now I can work on it without feeling that pressure all the time.

Which is nice.

Working on and off throughout the day helps me get a lot done without the burnout that comes with grinding away all day for a long streak.  But even so, yesterday I hit some kind of wall.  I couldn’t even lift my head.  There was a physical manifestation of “I can’t do it today.”  The mountain of remaining tasks on the project somehow sucked out everything I had during the night and I woke up more worn out than the night before.

So I took a mental health day.  It was pretty kick ass.  Walker was good enough to kick around with me while I bought crap I didn’t need and ate food I wasn’t hungry for.  Last night, I hung out with Tom (in the movie) we stopped by to see Luke (in the movie) at the Tanker.  It was just us and a Polish guy named Janusz who talked about sex acts with his friend’s wife.  It wasn’t as awesome as it sounds so we split.  I dropped Tom off at his place and stopped at Ground Kontrol to talk writing with Luke’s brother Nick (not in the movie).  We ended up chatting away for at least an hour if not more.  The DJ there (never got his name) was playing some great stuff… old 4 bit video game music over really crunchy beats.  Loved it.

I went to bed “normal” tired instead of completely wiped.  Today, I woke up like I hadn’t been alive in three months.  Like I broke through the layer of ice that covered the lake in which I had been drowning.  My whole body ached and my head spun and I had this urge to hear my mother’s voice.

So I’m back at the machines, coming to grips with the amount of work there is to do and how much I should really hope to accomplish before I submit the movie to the festivals.  Work-in-progress submissions are acceptable, but there are degrees of roughness.  My goal is still 9/20/09 for a submittable version of the film, but if that’s going to happen, I have to figure out a way to stabilize my energy so I don’t have anymore of those days lost at sea.

More soon.

A couple days ago, I set an internal/personal goal of finishing the movie by September 20th.  I also set a goal of learning the full production workflow for visual effects.  Those two goals are butting heads right now.

I have a handful of very talented people helping me out, but they’re also very busy.  That makes everything take longer because every practical tweak or conceptual alteration takes weeks to implement since the schedules never seem to be in sync.  I was really hoping one or two people would take ownership of the complicated shots to build their portfolio, but that’s a lot to ask with all the other opportunities that come up for hard-working visual effects artists in Portland.

But I’ve found inspiration in District 9.  So well made.  Just goes to show where perseverance and a great idea gets you in this industry.

So now I go into zero distraction mode to get this project together.  Gotta build a priority list and stick to it.  As I’ve said before, it’s hard to focus on one thing when there’s so much other stuff to do.  But that’s all there is to it at this point.  Nothing tricky.  Just make the list and check off the items one by one.

I’m pushing forward to get the movie in good enough shape to submit to some of the bigger festivals.  I’m not optimistic about my chances, but I like to think of rejection as proof that I tried.

P.S. Don’t say “industry.”