I just got back from editing what is basically the final cut of Covert Careers, based on Pia's script. I've done a bunch of lame skits and related items for classes over the past year or so but this is the first thing I'd actually call a real movie. There were a few things I would have liked to have done but couldn't due to time and scheduling conflicts, among other things, but I have to say the final product turned out better than I expected (so Pia, you can rest easy knowing I haven't butchered your work). It was cool working with someone else from Simply Scripts, outside of just plain writing; I'd like to do it again some time.

I'm hoping to have the film up online within the next week, either on my class's website or somewhere else (I'm thinking about setting up a YouTube account), so that everyone here can check it out. It stars my buddy/SS noob, Will Ball (albinopenguin), and a mutual friend/some random girl we grabbed off the street :P.

I'll post a link to the video when it's finally up, hopefully by midweek.

Congrats to you and Pia.  I look forward to seeing it.


Phil

That sounds great James!!!!!!

Can't wait to see it!

I'm sure Don will put it up on the home page when you've got it up online!!  :-)

Well done you two.  Looking forward to seeing this.

Congrats to the both of you.

Hope you can get it up soon. :D

An American-Sweedish coproduction? Nice. :)

Great news.

I hope this is the super secret, X rated version I've heard so much about.

Congrats to both of you.

Quoted from Mr.Z An American-Sweedish coproduction?

That sounds better than Mamma Mia.

Congrats to both of you.

I think I need to clarify that this wasn't really a coproduction. James produced/directed/edited and probably everything else too. All I did was tell him if he didn't use any of my scripts he could forget about that RED camera for Christmas...

Can't wait to see it!  :-)

Quoted from Grandma Bear produced

LOL. If by produce, you mean paid for fruit and beer for the actors to use, then yes; I'm the next Jerry Bruckheimer. But yeah, I did "everything else" basically. Nevertheless, you wrote the movie and as far as I'm concerned, that's the most important roll to have in any production.

At this very moment, I'm compressing the "deliverables" of the film (DVD, mp4, screen shots, etc.). Hopefully, I can have this posted on my new YouTube account by late this afternoon/tonight.

Covert Careers is on YouTube!



I should probably note that the film is widescreen so the embed might not look so good. Ironically, YouTube just changed everything to widescreen so the sides aren't chopped off as much as everything else on the site. Anyway, here's the url if you want a better picture...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8Ems3MQrtw

There's no way in hell that I'm going to be the only one who laughs their ass off at that stock footage and music.

The rest of it, I thought turned out pretty well.  Some of the wideshots looked like they had a little bit of trouble with the sound, but things like that are incredibly difficult to get around so no big deal.

Nice work, James.

It moved a bit too slow, I think, but a solid effort nonetheless. Good work Pia and James.

Quoted from James McClung LOL. If by produce, you mean paid for fruit and beer for the actors to use,

The reserved title for those who "funded" it is Executive Producer. :-)

Congrats on finishing your first directorial film. I can't believe how fast you guys did it too. I think you did a good job with it.

For me it's always interesting to see how others interpreted my stories. I think you came pretty close to how I envisioned it.

My thoughts while watching was:

Nice stock footage, but.... those were Arabians not Thoroughbreds. ;D Of course, only a horse person would notice.

First scene, "uh oh, my first sex scene on film". ;-)  After that though, I would probably not have added "one week later". The viscious slicing of the banana is Allison's immediate reaction to Chester's failiur in bed... If you know what I mean.

Later on when they are on the couch, my thoughts were that it might have worked better if Allison's face was filmed from the other side. From Chester's POV sort of. Otherwise we get the feeling that we are there as a third person watching.

I'm no expert though, I haven't even filmed a short film myself yet so feel free to totally ignore.

I think you should be proud of yourself.  :-)  

Thanks for watching, guys!

Quoted from Shelton The rest of it, I thought turned out pretty well.  Some of the wideshots looked like they had a little bit of trouble with the sound, but things like that are incredibly difficult to get around so no big deal.

You're probably right. Sound is always problematic. In fact, I would say ambient noise is the bane of my existence. I did a lot with the sound on this though. I had to go through all the audio files and change them from mono to stereo and then adjust all the decibel levels. Usually, I don't go so far. I would've adjusted the levels further but I think that would have compromised the continuity of ambient sound from shot to shot. I figured they were good enough to leave as is. I'm actually quite happy with the way the sound turned out. Otherwise, you live and learn.

Quoted from Grandma Bear The reserved title for those who "funded" it is Executive Producer. :-)

Really? I thought that was reserved for people who did nothing. :P

Quoted from Grandma Bear Nice stock footage, but.... those were Arabians not Thoroughbreds. ;D Of course, only a horse person would notice.

Haha. I guess you would know. No problem though. Unfortunately, I had to chuck the tail end of the kitchen scene due to massive continuity errors. There's actually quite a few in the scene already but after the milk gets poured, the ones left would have been impossible to ignore and would have taken people out of the movie.

Long story short, no mention of thoroughbreds at all.

Quoted from Grandma Bear First scene, "uh oh, my first sex scene on film". ;-)  After that though, I would probably not have added "one week later". The viscious slicing of the banana is Allison's immediate reaction to Chester's failiur in bed... If you know what I mean.

Haha. Yeah, that was a fun time. I actually followed the scene up with "the next day." The last transition is "one week later."

Quoted from Grandma Bear Later on when they are on the couch, my thoughts were that it might have worked better if Allison's face was filmed from the other side. From Chester's POV sort of. Otherwise we get the feeling that we are there as a third person watching.

Too much glare from the light on the other side (at that particular angle, anyway). Plus it'd be too jarring for Allison to switch frame sides from shot to shot. I actually like it better where it is anyway as you can really tell she's trying not to look at him. I'm not sure how well it would've worked from the other side.

Anyway, I'm really glad you liked it. My style's a little haphazard but I have to say I worked really hard on this and did a lot of things I've never done before. I think it really paid off. Hopefully, everyone who sees it will feel the same way.

This was a great video.  I had some big laughs as I hadn't read the script and didn't know what I was expecting.

Great job all round.

Hey, I just noticed this was posted.  There's lots of little things that could be nit picked at but the fact remains it was a very good job at making your first film James.  

Hey James, looks good. I think the it would be better if the actors were about twenty years older, but I'm guessing that it's MUCH easier to use your mates to act.

Good, simple shots and the right amount of horses. Maybe the horses slowed things down a bit, but they needed to be in there.

Well done Pia and James!

Thanks for posting this on the main page, Don. I would've been happy with just the people on the boards getting to see it so I have to say I really appreciate it.

Coincidentally, we had a class screening finals week and this got shown. Needless to say, it was the raunchiest piece in the class (however there were two other pieces with sex scenes). The reactions were mixed. Some people laughed. Others looked shocked/embarrassed to have seen in. I think my professor's face was my favorite; it was like the face a close friend might make after you play a clever prank on them. Regardless, it certainly made a dent. I know you didn't see them yourself, Pia, but I hope these were along the lines of reactions you might've hoped to received.

Thanks again to Don and everyone else who decided/decides to check this out.

James,
I honestly don't see what's so raunchy about this. Am I missing something?

There's a very brief sex scene in the beginning, but other than that it's just all talking.

Having been in the horse business for almost a decade, I've seen and helped out with all aspects of horse breeding. Collecting the semen is not "weird or bizarre". It's an actual job... so is sex therapist... there may not be that many of them around the country, but it is a real occupation. Also, there were hardly any foul language and whatever "risque" stuff was mostly in the dialogue. I honestly fail to see where this was even kind of raunchy...  :-/

Well, that's just me... I'm from the country were sex-ed starts at age 3... ;D

cheers dude

Well, it's certainly not raunchy like, say, Good Luck Chuck is raunchy. More along the lines of Clerks, I'd say. To be precise, some would think the dialogue is somewhat raunchy. There was also a lot more profanity in the final product as the two actors really got into character and tried to punch things up some. They're also generally foul mouthed people in their daily lives.

All that aside, i thought it was majorly risque for an undergraduate film, especially compared to the other films in the class. I don't know. Maybe I'm making too much of a thing outta this. I'm happy that the film seemed to break some grounds and stand out... for whatever reason. Raunchy or not, I think it was very successful.