As some of you might know by know, I'm going to film Bert's short Them That's Dead and I thought it would be fun to share the process here since we are both long time board members and we would share the experience from both the writer's and filmmaker's side.

The script was written for the February -11 OWC where the challenge was

Genre: Low budget horror
Theme: British/Celtic Mythology

I loved Bert's script and decided to make a pirate film out of it. I asked Bert if he would let me and he said yes. The film will be shot in St. Augustine Florida. It's a very cool town. One of the oldest cities in the US and it has an old fort, Castillo de San Marcos. It also has a pirate ship! Pirates are big in this town and it's full of pirate reenactors.

I'm going there on Sunday to look at locations and also talk to some people including the owner of the Pirate Museum. Will share pictures here when I get back. After I decide on what locations to use I will ask Bert to change the script to fit these locations. It's really just two locations. The rest will be b-roll. Right now I'm thinking the digging up of the corpse will be shot at night on the beach under (hopefully) a full moon. The end scene with the treasure that took place in a cave in the original script will be shot somewhere in the fort where the old stone walls would work well.

We've all heard the old cliche stories of where some jackass producer insisted on putting his girlfriend/daughter in the film...well, my daughter really really wants to be in this one. Now I have to ask Bert if he can add another small role for her.  ;D

Anyway, feel free to offer thoughts, advice, suggestions or questions to either me or Bert here in regards to anything about this film or script.

This will be fun!!

Pia  :)

++++ Flash Forward Three Years -----

THEM THAT'S DEAD from Indie Me on Vimeo.

Oh St Augustine...I love it there...we go down there about twice a month. I live about 30 minutes away!!! Keep us posted!

Pia

Thanks for sharing this. I will be very interested to hear all about it as I have never been involved with such a project.

Hope all goes well

I still remember the first time I read Them. It was my first OWC, and prior to that, I don't think I had ever read a short. Bert's came out with the first released batch of scripts, maybe 8 or 9. As luck would have it, I read his last.

So it was late at night. I had read the others, and sorry to say, was not very impressed. I was about to go to sleep, I had this one more script to go, and decided to at least open it and try it out.

Amazingly, the dialogue was so good, the story woke me up! I really enjoyed the read. So Them goes down in my personal history as the first short I would read and enjoy. We just had an OWC, and it's already hard to remember what most of them were about. But I can still remember Them That's Dead, so the words left an indelible impression.

Figured I would do a quick hello on this thread as well.

I think this sounds like a lot of fun, too.  I am sure I will learn something along the way, so I guess it is cool to share with everyone else.

As Pia mentioned, we will be adjusting the script to suit whatever she can or cannot find or do -- so I also thought this thread might be a good place to put some story-related questions out there if we hit a mental roadblock along the way.

As for the producer seeking to shoehorn her daughter into the script -- well, anyone who has seen Pumpkin Nightmare should understand why I have no objections to adding an additional sailor...   :)

I will really enjoy watching this as it unfolds and seeing the creative spirit in real live action. My goal always is to seize on the little things, (I know Kevin's like that, too) and really ask why they have purpose? Why they should or shouldn't belong in a script? Why they might have even been fine in a script, but when you're out shooting, "Low and behold! Look at that!" And all of a sudden something else... A happy accident occurs and how could you not include it? Even if it's not written in.

This will be really a lot of fun for me.  :) I live for fun.  ;D

Sandra

This is great, Pia.  ;D

I can't wait to see it.  ;D

Cindy

This is one I"m really looking forward to seeing come together, no pressure Pia! ;D

Are there any rewrites we're going to see?

I already hear the sea shanty music score, gotta go lo-fi fun on that, oh yeah!
I bet those pirate roleplayers even know of a pirate band!

Cheers,
E.D.

Quoted from Electric Dreamer I bet those pirate roleplayers even know of a pirate band!

I lived in Tallahassee prior to my big move up north -- hoping to get back down South someday -- but the point is, thinking on it now I recall there WAS a pirate band in Tallahassee (of all places).

It was "The Alaskan Pirate and his Salty Seamen".

For real.  Look them up.

The only run in I have had with pirates in Florida was in Millers off the 192 where I tried to eat a dessert for four called Captain Jack's Secret Treasure. It beat me, just about the first time, but I returned and kicked it's ass the second time around.

One of my favourite short's, can't wait to see the end result - I think I read it and then reread it about another 4-5 times

Quoted from bert I lived in Tallahassee prior to my big move up north -- hoping to get back down South someday -- but the point is, thinking on it now I recall there WAS a pirate band in Tallahassee (of all places). It was "The Alaskan Pirate and his Salty Seamen". For real.  Look them up.

http://www.audiosparx.com/AlaskanPirateAndHisSaltySeamen

Way to go, Bert!
These guys are awesome!
Soundtrack! Soundtrack! :D

E.D.

"The Alaskan Pirate and his Salty Seamen"

No jokes please, this is a family approved website!

Awesome, Pia!

This thread will be fun to watch, a fan of this script as well. After watching Pumpkin Nightmare, I can tell you understand film very well. The pacing was spot on. Will love to see what you can do with this. It is a monster in comparison. No pun intended.

Bert, is this the first thing you've ever had produced? Never saw any short films with your name on them here. Find that hard to believe, or, if you're like many, had something so badly produced you can't sully the boards with it...  Aargh...

James

I think this is Bert's first unless he just haven't told us about his films.

A lot goes into making a film, even a short and unless you're just doing a talking head piece it's not as easy as some might think.

My intention here is to make something good enough to submit to festivals, but we'll see how it turns out. I'm going to use pro crew and cast. Hopefully I can find both in St. Auggie so I don't have to pay for hotel costs and such for people out of town.

As far as rewrites being posted here goes, I'll leave that totally up to Bert. I have no problem with it at all. In fact it might be good to show others in case someone would have any great suggestions.

Right now, my biggest concern is the shark teeth... I'm pretty sure I can find a good looking corpse, but I need one with shark teeth...  ;D

Going to check locations tomorrow. Hopefully will have some pics tomorrow night.  :)

Best of luck with it Pia.

With you at the helm, I'm sure it's going to be fantastic.

Shawn.....><

Quoted from jwent6688 Bert, is this the first thing you've ever had produced?

Quoted from pia I think this is bert's first

It's true.  At least, the first I am aware of -- and this is still, technically, a pre-pro.

Unless you count my kid's Lego version of "Someplace Nice and Dark" (which is totally awsome, btw).

Countless emails and numerous option agreements have equated to zip actually appearing on screen.  I probably have about $400 to show for about six years of screenwriting, so I suppose the day job is a good thing.

The biggest drawback in my work -- or one of the drawbacks :) -- is that I write for me, not for a budget, and it is true what folks like Phil will tell you -- it really shows in the amount of work you can expect to get produced.

"Them That's Dead" is one of the only works I have ever really written with anything like a budget in mind -- and of course, our lady Pia won't be paying a nickel for the script or rewrites.

So, yeah, I am pretty excited about the whole thing, especially since I can probably expect closer contact with the producer than one might generally have.

Quoted from pia As far as rewrites being posted here goes, I'll leave that totally up to Bert...it might be good to show others in case someone would have any great suggestions.

That was my thinking.  We have such a collection of clever writers around here, it seems a shame not to utilize the resource.

Quoted from pia I'm pretty sure I can find a good-looking corpse...

I am not even sure what to make of that statement...

I have to admit that I'm supprised that you have never had anything produced before with the high standard of writing you have.

I can however also see that by writing for "you" as you said can result in less (if any) scripts being picked up simply because you see the movie being played out in your head, not the budget, cast, location ect...

I personally admire that more in a writer than naything else. Write what you love.

Pia is going to do an excellent job with an excellent script.

Shawn.....><

I vaguely remember that particular OWC being something I was involved in...

...and now it appears that certain people are trying to steal the thunder of not only my good self but of the winning writer!!!

That makes it a competition...and not just any competition, but a vicious fight to the death.

As much as I love you both, I intend to eviscerate the pair of you.


Mr. Richard D. Kinsella.

I sure hope you were joking there Rick.

I'm no director, nor do I pretend to be one. I just want to have fun and I'm trying to do the best I can. Not trying to steal any thunder from anyone. I loved Bert's script and thought it would work well as a pirate film. That's all.

Ha. Yeah, I'm just joking around.

Looking forward to seeing what you do with it.

:)

Hey guys - just saw this thread.  Congratulations to both Pia and Bert.  It's honestly great to see members of SS come together, and make a film.  Them That's Dead was one of my absolute favorites in that OWC.  (That, and the Godstick) - will be great to see it made.

If all goes well, maybe you could consider doing Bert's Someplace Dark or Salvage next?  Two other favorites of mine that I'd love to see filmed...  :)

Here are some pics from the location scout today. You have to imagine it at night and properly lit and without tourists. There are some more pics on FB so I think Bert gets the idea of what's available. There are basically two scenes in TTD. One is when they dig up the body and that will be shot on the beach. The second scene where they find the treasure we will shoot here at the fort. IMO, we can do some cool shots of the characters moving along the drawbridge and stairs and finally end up in that empty room.

I wanted more exterior shots, but hubby's back was not agreeing. I think you get an idea of the place still.

I also talked to some people about actors and stuff and apparently there are a ton of them in St. A. Will be contacting some people during the coming week about actors and crew.

Suggestions, ideas?

Wow.  Cool settings! Thanks for taking us along, Pia.

Setting looks great, you should be able to get some really interesting shots and angles with the different elevations available. Are you thinking of using actors or people who re enact pirate scenes?

Hey Pia, great shots!  I have seen the remainder on FB, too.

There is certainly plenty to be done with this location, isn't there?  I'll bet every time you turned a corner around that place you envisioned another shot you wanted.

I totally agree with your assessment about that vault-looking room for the second scene.  Maybe we can do something so the doorway to that room is hidden somehow, so it is kind of a secret chamber.

You will have to be thinking about just how much expansion of the storyline you want to make to incorporate some of this stuff -- like the cannons or the drawbridge.

What would be really cool is if you could get an alligator....

bert (blowing the budget, as usual)

Good lord, that's gonna be a hoot to light.
Go all Barry Lyndon on those high ceiling interiors.
I'm sure those pirate roleplayers know some candle makers.
Wonder script tweaks they'll be based on the potential sets.

E.D.

All I can say is, "Hell yeah".  ;D

I'm very excited and can't wait to see it!

Cindy

Great script, and a great team to produce it. Best of luck and I can't wait to see this!

...well, I'm looking forward to seeing this as well!!!   :o

As far as the actors go, I talked to some people yesterday and apparently there are lots of actors groups and reenact ors groups. A lot of them do both. They seem to go hand in hand. I have no idea how good they are though, but I'm optimistic.

The script needs to be rewritten, but I'm not really looking to expand the story. It works just fine the way it is. I'll leave it to bert to add my daughter into the story.  :D  As far as the fort goes, most of it will be b-roll stuff. Except for instead of them moving through a cave and an alcove and such they could be moving over the draw bridge, down those steps and into some prison or dungeon type places. Depending of what shots are used, it can all be made to look like whatever we want.

Bert...there is an alligator farm down the street!  ;D

Here's a new draft of Them That's Dead

The story is the same, but the new locations have been inserted.

My daughter have not yet been introduced to the story. Bert was thinking along the lines of a ghost. I immediately pictured the ghost appearing on the beach when they are digging up the corpse. Perhaps warning them about digging him up and maybe using the words "them that's dead".  Thoughts anyone?   :)

Quoted from Grandma Bear Here's a new draft of Them That's Dead The story is the same, but the new locations have been inserted. My daughter have not yet been introduced to the story. Bert was thinking along the lines of a ghost. I immediately pictured the ghost appearing on the beach when they are digging up the corpse. Perhaps warning them about digging him up and maybe using the words "them that's dead".  Thoughts anyone?   :)

Hey Pia,

Are you thinking of making the new character integral to the plot?
If not, I had a thought that wouldn't change the story too much.

What if, Rhiannon needed more than elixir to get O'Shea to talk?
Say, the freshly spilled blood of a maiden for that extra kick?

Give O'Shea some tasty wench blood to get him to talk.
Make the "poor mute" do the bloody deed.
That would play him up as the dumb schmuck even more.
Then pour it right down the funnel.
All you need is a wench in a sack! ;D

Regards,
E.D.

Quoted from Electric Dreamer Are you thinking of making the new character integral to the plot?

No, just a little nepotism from the producer.  But I have no objections.

In fact, I kind of like the idea.  As I've said, I thought she was great in the pumpkin film.  The girl has presence.

But working her into a story conceived for 3 is proving a bit vexing for me.

Quoted from Electric Dreamer What if, Rhiannon needed...the freshly spilled blood of a maiden?  All you need is a wench in a sack!

Not bad, Brett.  Not bad at all.

What are your thoughts on that angle, oh great director?  

How much is your offspring willing to suffer for your art?

Well, she's not an actress so I want to limit her part to a line or two, no rea acting. I liked the ghost on the beach part myself and liked the idea of her saying the title words. I'm open to any ideas as long as they don't require "real" acting.  :)

Just caught this thread. I am going to make a point of not reading the script until after the shoot if that's ok.
Everyone seems to have read it already so my angle will hopefully be a unique one.

(CLICKS NOTIFY)

Quoted from Grandma Bear Well, she's not an actress so I want to limit her part to a line or two, no rea acting. I liked the ghost on the beach part myself and liked the idea of her saying the title words. I'm open to any ideas as long as they don't require "real" acting.  :)

I was thinking along the same lines.
Which is why I thought a wench pleading through a gag would work.

Dunno how your offspring would feel about being murdered though. ;D
Personally, I feel a throat slit early on would add some saucy spice.

Rhiannon and Gulley can even "force" Brocc to kill her.
Could serve as a nice red herring for Brocc's reveal later.

In fact...
The wench could react horrified to something only she sees.
It could appear (shoot over Brocc's shoulder) that it's her reaction to Brocc's blade.
But, you could do a flashback reveal at the end to show the truth.
The wench reacted to Brocc's smile and the shark teeth it houses!

A passing thought from my mind's eye on this early morn.
Feel free to disregard, but I liked how it played out in my head. ;D

Cheers,
E.D.

Quoted from Electric Dreamer I was thinking along the same lines. Which is why I thought a wench pleading through a gag would work. Dunno how your offspring would feel about being murdered though. ;D Personally, I feel a throat slit early on would add some saucy spice. Rhiannon and Gulley can even "force" Brocc to kill her. Could serve as a nice red herring for Brocc's reveal later. In fact... The wench could react horrified to something only she sees. It could appear (shoot over Brocc's shoulder) that it's her reaction to Brocc's blade. But, you could do a flashback reveal at the end to show the truth. The wench reacted to Brocc's smile and the shark teeth it houses! A passing thought from my mind's eye on this early morn. Feel free to disregard, but I liked how it played out in my head. ;D Cheers, E.D.

Great suggestions, but....on this production the producer's daughter isn't really an actress. I need to limit her part to something simple.  ;D

Just a quick little update in case anyone is interested.

I have not yet received a draft with my daughter in it�  ;D  so for now, I'm using the last one I posted here as the shooting script. Unless Bert comes up with something amazing, my daughter's part will be minor and not really change anything. If he decides to go with the ghost on the beach warning about disturbing Them That's Dead, I'm just going to green screen her at home and add that part in post.

I have approached a DP and sent him the script too. I know him and he does good work. He's also very busy with his business and three kids so we'll see what he says. Fingers crossed.

Tomorrow I'm talking to a guy in St. Auggie who does reenactments and is active in some acting groups. He also runs a pirate hotel/inn!  

I think I have the insurance figured. I'm going to put it under my umbrella policy since it will only be for a couple of days. Can't shoot at a National Monument without being heavily insured!!

I researched and worked on figuring out how to make the corpse on the beach today. I feel sort of confident that I can pull that off. I'm going to buy a plastic skeleton and then give it the ole' paper machet work over. I think I know how to do the shark teeth too. I LOVE the internet!! There are tutorials for everything!!

I also have the treasure chest and gold coins figured. This process is slow, but this is the kind of stuff I like to tinker with!!  :)

Quoted from darrentomalin Just caught this thread. I am going to make a point of not reading the script until after the shoot if that's ok. Everyone seems to have read it already so my angle will hopefully be a unique one. (CLICKS NOTIFY)

Thanks! It's a great script!  :)

Quoted from Grandma Bear I have not yet received a draft with my daughter in it...so for now, I'm using the last one I posted here as the shooting script.

Oh, man -- I did not know you were waiting on me  :-/

Sorry boss -- I thought you were planning a spring shoot?

I am horrible to work with.  If you want something outta' my lazy a** you gotta' give me a deadline or something.

No no. You misunderstood. There is no real hurry since her part is minor if not even necessary. I'll work with that other draft posted here for now. Everything is cool.  ;)

I can't wait to see this....I too, haven't read the script...I am gonna wait til after it's filmed.

Just a quick update.

The shooting of TTD will be later than planned due to some other things that need my attention right now. I'm happy though to announce that we do have a DP. David Ulloa. http://www.valeofilms.com/david.html a local guy, but he does some really nice work. We also have George Willson making original music for us.

So, it's slow going, but it is moving.  :)

Great news. Looks like you’ve got the perfect DP for the job. And George! Good to see SS people collaborating.

Good luck with it.


Brea

Thanks Breanne!

I always try to involve friends if I can. Makes it more fun and adds meaning. I'm hoping Sean will do the poster.  :)

Quoted from Grandma Bear I'm hoping Sean will do the poster.  :)

Ah, that would be awesome.  Do it, Sean.  And I am pretty jazzed about music from George, too.  All of that was Pia's idea, and I am very pleased about the collaborative approach she is taking.

Now all I have to do is get her the rewrite haha.

I guess I would be excited about the DP, were it not for one, small detail.

How stupid do I look if I admit that I am not even sure what a DP is?  I mean, I just write the stuff.  What is a DP, and why do we need one?

Director of photography.  He's going to make sure the film looks good.  ;)

Just a quick update for those who are interested.

Old Shark Tooth O'Shea is sort of coming along...  ;D  I didn't make him. Just messed with him a little bit, but I'm pretty happy with him and I think he will look great at night under the moon on the beach. Which btw, will be in St. Augustine as well at Anastasia State Park. Anyway, I will ask the guy that made him to make one with an open mouth and more hair. Pirate clothes are coming today.

David, the DP, and I were discussing different shots and we decided to shoot a small scale pirate ship in silhuette in the water rather than use the big boat they have in St. Augustine. Reason is that boat looks odd chugging along in the water when it has no sails... So, I went ahead and ordered a model pirate ship. Now my husband informs me that those are not meant to be in water and won't float. But now I will have a nice desk accessory to go with the rest of my "nautical" themed office.  :-/

Belief can be suspended. lol.

Quoted from bert What is a DP, and why do we need one?

Don't worry, Bert, I didn't know what it meant when I first saw it on a website either.  It means Double Penetr-...  Wait, that's another site.  On this one, it'll mean Director of Photography more often than not.

Sorry, guys, but I couldn't resist.  :-)  I just wish I wasn't a couple months late to the party.

The collaboration sounds exciting, though, and it sounds like everything's coming together.  Congrats Pia and Bert and George and possibly Sean.

I remember reading this one.  It sounds like it'll be a lot of fun to film.

I haven't made a lot of updates here lately. Mainly because I didn't want people's expectations to be too high...like our own "SS Prometheus" and then people would be disappointed when they finally get to see the film.  ;D

Anyway, i've been working pretty hard on it and we're hoping to shoot this in the beginning of July. If we miss that then it won't happen until August because the DP, David Ulloa is going on another adventure for two weeks. He does really exciting things all the time. I'd love to be his intern.

Here is a link to our shooting script in case anyone is interested. Them That's Dead shooting script

Some things will be different in the film compared to the script. Little things like, the Princess Palm. There are no palm trees on the beach. Simple reason like that. A few other things too, but we're sticking close to the script otherwise.

Will this turnout the way bert envisioned it? Probably not because he saw it his way when he wrote it. I saw it my way when I read it. Hopefully the way we both see it won't be too different though.  

I'm meeting tomorrow morning with our Voodoo Pirate. Oh yeah, the gypsy is not a gypsy anymore.  ;D  We're going over her character and her costume. Friday we have a table read and costume check at my house. Next week another production meeting.

I'll keep you posted.  :)

I forgot. I should probably mention that the reason there is no cover page is that this script is in a folder together with the shot list and storyboard and script breakdown and it has the title on the folder. All key people in the crew has their own folder.

Quoted from Grandma Bear Some things will be different in the film compared to the script...Will this turnout the way bert envisioned it? Probably not...

WHAT?!?!?

I suppose you would also sketch a handlebar moustache onto the Mona Lisa?  Perhaps you should add a few giraffes to Botticelli’s Primavera while you are at it -- and why not a cadre of kazoos for Beethoven's Fifth???

Kidding aside, I am very grateful for the opportunity to watch you piece this together.

Cast, locations, props -- and all that technical stuff that is just beyond me -- she is one smart cookie, and more clever than I'll bet many of you know.  I am learning quite a bit about what happens to a script by "watching" her take this journey.

And for the record -- script-wise -- our gal has complete freedom to do whatever she deems fit to get the job done.  Just saying.

I am just really pleased it is you doing this and not some stranger operating under radio silence.

LOL! You're being very kind!!!!

I just wanted you and all other writers to know that seldom do the films turn out looking the way they had in mind while writing the story. As you know, I've had a LOT of shorts made by now. Anything from student films to pretty serious productions and none of them have looked the way I imagined. I think the one that have come the closest was actually Cornetto's The Dark series make of Issues. It doesn't mean I didn't like the films, just trying to prepare you, is all.  ;D

Btw, when I send you your DVD copy, I'll send you one of the crew folders as well, just so you can get a feel of what is involved.  :)

Read the shooting script. Dig it! Nice foreshadowing by the spirit maiden and her lend to the title. Assuming that's Pia's daughter's part? I won't have any problem watching her laced in sea-weed and not much else.

How do you plan to do the filed down teeth on Brocc/Brock? --I say that because your hack writer flubbed up his name once in the script. :-) pg6/ Scene 9 if you give a shit, Bert...

James

Quoted from jwent6688 Nice foreshadowing by the spirit maiden and her lend to the title. Assuming that's Pia's daughter's part? I won't have any problem watching her laced in sea-weed and not much else.

:D I'm afraid you'll be disappointed there. There's no way I could get her to even get her hair wet. and you can forget about the seaweed.

This is a pic of Gulley. I personally love it.


Getting closer to shooting and I'm getting very excited about it.  :)

Love it! Can't wait to see this! ;)

That guy looks like he'd slit your throat for a flagon of grog! ;D

Regards,
E.D.

Good luck with it Pia and look forward to the release.

It's great to see a project go from start to finish and being able to compare the script to the final product so looking forward to it.

Regards Alex

A few people have asked me how the shoot went and since they are not on my FB they don't get updates so I figured I'll post a couple of pics here...since it's slow here anyway. :)

Can't wait to see this. Looks like it's coming along nicely. Hopefully...:)

On a side note, mind splitting that booty you got there in the second pic. I've always been nice to you...lol

Gabe

Quoted from Mr.Ripley On a side note, mind splitting that booty you got there in the second pic. I've always been nice to you...lol

Yes you have, Gabe!  ;D

That is cheap plastic from China though.   ;)

Whatever you say Pia. I'm sending you my address through pm. :)  

Back to the short,

Is this encouraging you to direct a feature some time soon or you'll settle with screenwriting only?  

When's the estimated date this will prob be finished?

Sorry if I'm asking too many questions. Just curious. :)

Gabe

Gabe, no worries about the questions. That’s why I started this thread. I wanted people to get an idea of the process going from script to film. I quit posting after awhile because I was afraid people’s expectations might get to high. Remember, my goal here was only to make something better in quality than last years Pumpkin Nightmare. I’m pretty sure it will be, but I don’t want people to think “big budget high quality”. This is a small production short using local stage actors and crew.

We are starting editing tomorrow. As soon as I have a rough cut, I will show it to SS’s own George Willson so he can get started on the music. I’m hoping to have the film finished by mid October and online for everyone to see.

As far as directing goes, by the time we wrapped the shoot it had been a grueling 60 hrs or so at the beach and at the fort. I told everyone Friday’s shoot would be over by 11pm and we would party a little in St. Augustine...at 4am we left the beach exhausted and totally eaten by bugs. I didn’t sleep at all that night... On Saturday we started at 6pm at the fort. Again, I totally misjudged how long the shoot would take. I told the park rangers that we would be out of there at midnight. At 3:30am I got in my car and drove the 110 miles or so home...no sleep and two lane country roads. Not a wise decision, but... So, at that time, I was painfully reminded that I’m not 25 anymore and I swore I’ll never make another film again. I’m totally okay sitting in a dark room by myself and just type. Then I woke up after the longest nap on Sunday and I found myself debating what kind of project I would want to do next!!!!  I can’t explain that one.  :)

Quoted from Mr.Ripley ...mind splitting that booty you got there in the second pic?

Ahhr...that there be the writer's fee ya' scurvy dog.  Keep yer grubby paws off it!

Or as Pia the Pirate might say, "I best not be catchin' ya eye'n me booty!"

Thanks Pia for sharing and please do recount all the details, as i find it fascinating.

I've never been involved with a production and probably won't.

Your story reminds me of people doing up a house. They under estimate the time and effort, almost kill themselves in the process, swear they will never do it again...but...after it all settles down, realise they loved it and have learnt so much it should be easier next time!

Finally, when you hear on the news that there were reports of "strange happenings" on the beach at night, this is not what was expected.

Great photos

all the best

Is the original script still here somewhere? I want to read them together to see the differience between a spec and a shooting script.

It was an OWC, wasn't it?

Shawn.....><

I remember when I shot my feature, No Kind of Life, I underestimated the time it would take to do it as well. I knew for sure we could do it in a day since it was all one location, 5 actors and 73 pages. We started at 7am and went home at midnight. Did the rest on the evening of day 2. Still, it was a feature in 2 days. My only regret is not rerecording the dialogue. I figured out I needed to do that after 2 of my actors moved to California and another to Arkansas. Dang it. Good movie. Crappy sound.

I continue wishing that I could shoot something else, but other things have always been more important to deal with, so no other movies from me yet. I've been happy to be a part of other productions though as I do like writing music. It was where I started.

Making movies is hard work, especially if you're the one in charge. You drag yourself through hell and back and then for some reason, you want to do it again.

I wouldn't bother reading the shooting script. The actual shot list was much more detailed than that. Also, we had to make some changes on the spot. One of the scenes in the script has Rhiannon leading them through a narrow passage and then a shark tooth points the way for them to go. When we got to the fort, I was informed that there was a crack in that passage way and no one is allowed to go into the turret. They were actually afraid that it might fall down!! So, we had to come up with something else. I'm sure that happens a lot, things don't go as planned. As you can see from the pics too, the old gypsy was changed into a voodoo pirate. Reason being is I had to work with the actors available to me. Same thing with my daughter. There was just no way she would agree to be soaken wet with seaweed in her hair. ;D

The film, I'm sure, will be quite different than how bert imagined it. I've had 20+ shorts of mine made and none of them has looked the way I imagined them when I wrote them, that's how it goes. :)

George,

looks like we have to rerecord some of the dialogue too. I had a great mic, a Sennheiser shotgun, but the waves were really really LOUD. Not a nice waves on the beach sound either. More like a constant crashing. Always something, isn't there?

Yeah, always something. I've learned that the majority of modern movies rerecord the majority of their dialogue. The dialogue on set is purely for reference purposes so the actors can hear what they sounded like at the time and emulate themselves. I should have just redone it at the time.

Looks awesome bear!

I hope there's a big turnout for this at The Hippo.  I will be there, damnit!  And I will be drinking Jager like it's going out of style...or is it already out of style?

Angry Bear (and Bert)

Congrats on getting this filmed.

It's always exciting to get something on tape!  Now comes the hard part - color correction, re-recording dialogue and editing, editing, editing.

Have fun with that.

I'm prepping to direct my first short (it's actually roughly 40 min long - is that a short?).  I will not be editing, but I will be there for the editing.  Not my favorite thing to do, but someone has to do it!

Chazz

Chazz, you should read Bert's original OWC script.  It's very good.  You should also read my competing OWC script, The White Women.  It's very, very good!   ;D ;D ;D ;D

Sorry guys and gal/bear/Pia/angry...couldn't help myself!

Quoted from ChazzChristopher It's always exciting to get something on tape!

It's not on tape. It's all on P2 and sdxc cards.  ;)

Seriously though, I actually love editing. I'm no good at it, but I love watching the magic take place in post. We still have a lot of work to do and although, I am pretty happy with it, I'm thinking I might never want to shoot at night outside again. We used two different cameras and both have some low light grainy issues.  :-/

Jeff, you know I would never try to hurt your feelings, but truth be told, I only remember three or so scripts from that OWC. IMHO, bert's was the best of the bunch.   :) :K)

Yes, Bert's was the best.  Bert is the best.  And Bert rocks...even if  he still deletes my posts every now and then or has to chime in to calm my ass down.

The anticipation....

;D

Can't wait to see it.

I haven't made any updates to this in awhile. I've been busy with other stuff. Including trying to write a a sequel for the vampire film. It took five months out of my life and almost brought me into depression. Finally, I decided that I just couldn't do it. Call it giving up if you will, but to me it was just realizing facts. I'm not that level of a writer. Once I realized that, it was like a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders. The floodgates opened up and I wrote two features in just four months! I'm almost finished a third one for this year, so in the end, I think that was a good decision.

Anyway, TTD short film had some serious issues with low lighting causing huge amounts of grain on the video. I was VERY disappointed when I saw the footage for the first time. When I sat down to start the rough editing, I almost wanted to give up that too. I didn't want to disappoint anyone involved. Especially Bert. I'm sure the film is nothing like he imagined it when he wrote it. It also seems that nowadays, people expect shorts to look like million dollar productions, even for shorts! Thanks James!! :P I rented a lot of extra lights, but you just can't light up a whole beach and an ocean!!!!! Lesson learned there!!! That's why Cornetto and I came up with the hurricane motel story. It would all take place inside and lighting and everything else would be easy to control!  ;D  Then my student friend Nick totally rescued this short film. He ran everything through de-noiser softwares and whatever else magic he knows. So, I'm hoping that this will come together soon and be finished before August. Btw, just rendering took 14hrs!!!! and 12 hrs for exporting!!!!

Below are some before and after de-noise work.








  

Awesome job, Pia! Glad to see you're not giving up on this. That de noising software did an amazing job. Those stills look great! I always thought you were screwed if you didn't have enough light to start. Can't wait to see it.

James

Pia, the first part of your post saddens me...

Quoted Text I decided that I just couldn't do it. Call it giving up if you will,

Well, I'm sorry you didn't finish that vampire sequel... but I wouldn't call it giving up since...

Quoted Text floodgates opened up and I wrote two features in just four months! I'm almost finished a third one for this year, so in the end.

A lot of folks can't do that.^^^

Hopefully one day you can go back and finish that vampire sequel... if anything... just to bring things full circle.

You're a very talented writer.  Give yourself more credit.

And yes, like everyone else... I'm anxiously waiting to see the finished product.

Ghost

Quoted from jwent6688 Can't wait to see it.

Gah!  You're telling me.

Everytime a see a still I have to wonder, "What the heck is she complaining about??"

She is such a harsh critic of her own work it's amazing she ever gets anything done at all.

How is George coming on the music?  I want accordions!

Quoted from jwent6688 That de noising software did an amazing job. Those stills look great! I always thought you were screwed if you didn't have enough light to start.

It used to be that you were totally screwed, but I guess there are some amazing softwares out there and amazing young editing students that truly are magicians.  :)

Quoted from ghost and_ghostie gal Pia, the first part of your post saddens me.

Sometimes you just have to be realistic. I tried so hard to become a competitive horse rider, which I was when I was young in Sweden, but after ten years and too many serious accidents, I realized I was too old to pick that sport up again. I could still ride in different more "safe" disciplines, but I decided not to. That's not in my heart.

Quoted from ghost and_ghostie gal Well, I'm sorry you didn't finish that vampire sequel... but I wouldn't call it giving up since...  A lot of folks can't do that.^^^

Thanks!  :)  My goal now is to make those features better.

Quoted from ghost and_ghostie gal Hopefully one day you can go back and finish that vampire sequel... if anything... just to bring things full circle.

Arterial Motives the script is being shopped right now even though a film has already been shot. I know. Weird. Don't ask.  ;)

Quoted from ghost and_ghostie gal And yes, like everyone else... I'm anxiously waiting to see the finished product.

You probably will regardless of how it turns out.  :)

Quoted from bert She is such a harsh critic of her own work.

Well, some people that have seen parts of it, told me I let the actors overact too much, so I lost some confidence there. To me, this is a period piece, so I thought it would work...

Quoted from bert How is George coming on the music?  I want accordions!

He's waiting for an edit where everything is locked as far as the sequence goes. :)

Can't wait for this, this is going to be legen- wait for it- dary.

I'm excited to see this one, too!

I feel you on the writer's block, Pia.  For what I've been working on recently, mine's not so much a block as much as what I was starting to write after page 60 wasn't great and I don't like not having that confidence that I usually write with.  But, I'm going to take a day or two break from it and see if I can come back and get my regular voice back.

I'm happy to hear you're back to the grind again!

The contrast in the stills is pretty amazing!  What camera did you use for filming?  I apologize if the question's been asked already and I missed it somewhere.

- Mark

Quoted from bert How is George coming on the music?  I want accordions!

George has some very general themes at this point. Once Pia has locked down the form of it, I can mold the themes into her framework to make it sing. And synthed accordians sound weird, but I'll see what I can do. I assume you're looking for polka music, which I believe would work well with the piratey theme.

Polka music?  For reals?

Quoted from George Willson I assume you're looking for polka music, which I believe would work well with the piratey theme.

Really?  Is that what I am asking for?

One problem with George is you can seldom tell when he is teasing you or not.

But I meant, like, sea chantys and stuff -- but I was also kind of goofing around, too.  I mean, it is not like I am a huge fan of the accordion or anything.

Music is your angle, George.  Do not let me boss you around -- as if you would.  Do what works best, and don't shoehorn something in just because a musical ignoramus such as myself said you should.

Quoted from Grandma Bear ...the film came off more comedic than I probably had intended due to me letting the actors over do some of their stuff...especially since the dialogue is written the way it is...

Some of the more comic elements to the dialogue were definitely intentional, and the roles were meant to be "overplayed" to a certain extent.  Gulley, in particular, was an exaggerated character.

At least, this is what I was doing, and it sounds like the actors may have picked up on that.

Quoted from Grandma Bear And, I know George will do an amazing job!   :K)

While I will stop short of adding a smooch, I have a lot of confidence in the multi-talented Mr. Willson, as well.  No pressure, George haha.

So, I see Don has posted up the film in the original script thread.

It therefore seems timely to give this thread a bump as well.

I love it, but I am biased.  I will save my comments until Pia has checked in -- as she did far, far more than I in bringing this home.

I see Don added the film.  ;D

As many of you know, this film almost didn't happen thanks to some serious technical issues we had during filming. But, here it is. Is it anywhere near what I had in mind when I set out to do this? Not really, but that is all my fault for unwittingly choosing extremely difficult locations. Not only was it during night hours, it was also shot on a beach and a national monument! It was also 2hrs away from where we all lived so food and lodging had to be factored in too. Some people have suggested that we should've just gone back to reshoot some of this stuff, but logistically that just wasn't possible.

Bert has said he likes it. That makes me very happy! Is it what he imagined? Probably not, but I think he knows I loved the script from day one and all of us involved did our very best with it.  :)

I watched it tonight! I love it! You did a great job..and Bert did a great job with the story! Super loved it!!

Wow! I've followed your project from the beginning and with all the issues you had I didn't expect it to be that good...but it WAS! Congrats Pia! You had some REALLY great shots in this film. You've really grown as a director. Can't wait to see what you do next!  :)  :)  :)

Excellent work all around.

Pia,

Nice work.  I'm in the process of shooting something at night as well and I'm running into the grainy problem too.

I'm following you on Vimeo to make sure I catch all your newest work.

A couple questions:

• What model of camera did you use?
  
• What ISO did you shoot at?
  
• What lights did you use?
  
• What software was used to de-noise the footage?
  
• Did you color correct?  If so, what software did you use, or was it done in camera?
  
• Did you record sound on set or did you foley everything in post?
  
• Did you use ADR?
  
• How did you record sound?  Mic?  Recorder?
  
• If a train leaves Boston traveling 30 mph...actually forget this question.
  

***********

George,

What did you use to compose the score?

***********


Great work for all involved.  You're an inspiration to all of us trying to follow in your footsteps.

Jordan

Very thrilled to see this come together after all this time for you, Pia.
Creating such a mood piece is a Herculean task on a tight budget.
I'm sure the experience will serve you well in future productions.

Maybe you should fall in love with a talking heads in a bar script next. ;D

But seriously, super proud of you guys and the production!

Keep Directing,
Brett

What an ambitious project! Awesome to see this one.

Great choices with the actors. Is that the young guy's real voice? It's a great pirate-movie voice.

I found the woman, L'Tanya Van Hamersveld, particularly entertaining -- really consistently committed, and the DP did some particularly good work with her, I thought, as in the shot at 8:40-ish.

This was a fun story told with aplomb. Props to Pia and Bert and the whole cast and crew.

Thank you Dena, Marnie and Kevin!  :)

Quoted from Nomad Nice work.  I'm in the process of shooting something at night as well and I'm running into the grainy problem too. I'm following you on Vimeo to make sure I catch all your newest work. A couple questions:      •           •     What model of camera did you use?      •     What ISO did you shoot at?      •     What lights did you use?      •     What software was used to de-noise the footage?      •     Did you color correct?  If so, what software did you use, or was it done in camera?      •     Did you record sound on set or did you foley everything in post?      •     Did you use ADR?      •     How did you record sound?  Mic?  Recorder?      •     If a train leaves Boston traveling 30 mph...actually forget this question.

We used my now old Panasonic HVX200 which was hot shit in -06 when I bought it. I love working with it, but it is notorious for its bad performance in low light situations. I thought we would be safe though since I hired a DP with years of experience with the same camera. We just didn’t have enough lights for the location even though I had rented extra lights. This was filmed at Anastasia State Park in Florida and at night it is really really dark. No lights around whatsoever. To have done this location justice, we would have needed lights suitable for a stadium or concert. We had a second camera as well. You can probably tell which clips are from that camera. It was some kind of DSLR Canon. Surprisingly though, it didn’t do any better than my camera.

What ISO? Don’t remember. I would have to look that up on the media.

We used my light kit which is most suitable for indoor controlled situations and then we rented two cases of lights. I don’t remember exactly what kind of lights they were, but I know they were bigger than mine. This was handled by the DP so I didn’t really worry too much about it. Even though we had those though, it wasn’t enough.

The software we used was AMAZING! It’s called NeatVideo. The media we had was unwatchable before we ran it through NeatVideo. One problem with the denoiser though is that you have to use that first in the editing before you add add or do anything else. This becomes a problem, because the rendering times with the denoiser was about 11-15 hrs!!! Each time!!! So after we had cleaned it up so it was presentable visually with less grain, we were not able to color correct and do a lot of the other stuff needed because, Like I said, every time we had to render it would take up a whole day. Not to mention how many times the computers crashed in between. Hope that answers the question about the color correcting too.

We recorded sound on set with my Sennheiser shotgun mic, which I love! I considered re-recording all audio afterwards because there was a horrendous sound of the waves on the beach. Instead of nice ocean waves hitting the beach, it was a constant LOUD crashing sound, but I fixed that by adding nicer sounding stock audio of ocean waves underneath as ambient sound. Some sounds were obviously added later like the spooky sounds and thunder. At the fort, the second editor, Nicolas, did a lot of foley work with footsteps and creaky sounds and that sort of thing.

No ADR.

Quoted from Nomad Great work for all involved.  You're an inspiration to all of us trying to follow in your footsteps. Jordan

You just made my day, btw. Thank you.  :)

Quoted from Electric Dreamer Very thrilled to see this come together after all this time for you, Pia. Creating such a mood piece is a Herculean task on a tight budget. I'm sure the experience will serve you well in future productions. Maybe you should fall in love with a talking heads in a bar script next.  But seriously, super proud of you guys and the production!

Thanks Brett! It’s been a long time for sure. When did we even have that OWC?

You are right about the mood thing. Something very hard to do…I found out.  ;D

I actually asked Phil if I could shoot his bar script awhile back. That seems like an easy thing to do now. Ha!

Thanks again!

More later, but I have to get back to work here for a bit.

Atlast.  This was worth the wait.  I enjoyed it very much Pia.  Hats off to all involved as well.


Ghostie

Quoted from Nomad George, What did you use to compose the score?

After staring hopelessly at the rough cut for a month when nothing I had previously written worked a tic with the final product, I found my muse and started sketching it all out. My primary "final" compositional tool is a Yamaha SY-85 keyboard that I've had since 1994 that contains some of the best sound samples I've ever heard. MIDI sounds can't hold a candle to it, and I can't even get Finale to sound as good as that keyboard. I program it note by note, which is tricky sometimes, but it has been good to me over the years. I really, really need to fix the disk drive at some point, but after 20+ years, it is holding up well.

Because there is really no screen to follow the music on when I program it, this time, I wrote everything out in Finale first and played it along with the rough cut to check timing and tempos and such to ensure that everything lined up. I exported those as MIDI files (which sounded awful), and made my own rough cut of it to recheck my timing. It was then that I programmed everything, double-checked my tempos to make sure the clock in the computer didn't differ somehow with the clock in my keyboard (it didn't).

Once that was done, I balanced it all out, forgot to put in a little reverb (so Kevan threw that it when he added it), exported the max quality MP3s, and sent the dropbox links for the music and my rough cut along with the time markers.

Overall, I was happy with the way the score turned out. I was really worried for awhile there that I might not be able to. I did not have writer's block, per se, but everything I did write was wrong for the material. It was good when the right muse finally hit.

Thanks Chris and Ghostie!

Chris, that young pirate is Micah. I liked what he sounded like there at the end. I told him to lower his brow and look a little bit like Frankenstein’s monster. He’s a supr nice guy. Very tall too. I used him in the short film Old Wounds too. That one didn’t finish due to the location being a disaster. What is it with me and picking bad locations???  ;D  Anyway, I appreciate you being able to tell it was an ambitious project. It was. I just didn’t know better.

This is in response to Kevin’s comment in the other thread before it was deleted. He made some good points about the film and I wanted to explain why some things ended up the way they did.

One thing he mentioned was the purple smoke effect. He thought it would have been better without it. First off, the purple smoke was in the script.  ;D But also, while editing we realized that the scene wasn’t lit enough for details and with the actress being really dark skinned, we couldn’t really see her talking or what she was doing anyway, so the smoke was added.

Another thing mentioned was how they go to the fort and down some steps and voila, there’s the chest sitting in a room. Well, we had something different in the script. The characters, led by Rhiannon were going down a narrow tunnel type thing until they come to a fork and they find a shark tooth on the ground that points the way. We had all that planned and were going to use one of the turrets and the narrow walkway to it at the fort for that scene. We were going to cover the open space over the walkway with tarp and netting and cover the netting with moss and such to give the illusion of it being underground. When we got to the fort for our shoot Saturday evening, we were told that we could not use the turret. They had discovered a crack in it and were afraid it might fall off the fort! So, that’s the reason for the “easy find” of the chest.

  

Congrats to everyone involved - you've don a fantastic job! :)

Quoted from George Willson I program it note by note, which is tricky sometimes, but it has been good to me over the years.

Impressive.

I have an old Casio keyboard that I used to program note by note and that was a pain in the ass.  God forbid I had to edit something in the middle of a track.

Now I use FL Studio 10 and an Alesis Q25 controller to lay down my scores.  I'm still learning how to use it all, but it's a lot better than a 4" LCD.

Jordan

That is FANTASTIC NEWS!!!!

You worked so hard on this Pia!

And bert, what a great script to work with.

You both should be very proud and happy with the final product.  :)

Shawn.....><

Thanks guys! I almost scrapped this film a couple of moths ago.  Thank you so much for the support!  8)  :)