no devil lived on

Goings On

So, since I've last posted I have made a few purchases. First, and probably most notably, I have sent some money to a fellow amateur filmmaker, Hank Braxtan. Hank has a small production company (BraxtanFILM) that make stupid, funny shorts and fan films. I ran onto their work about a year ago on TFNfanfilms.net. They had recently made and released a fanfilm called Freddy vs. The Ghostbusters, which is a very funny fan film involving Freddy Krueger of Nightmare on Elm Street fame and a new set of ghostbusters that is based using the rules of both universes. It's nothing ground breaking, or super artistic, but it's entertaining and decently funny.

Anyway, back to my point, I donated 25 dollars for the budget of their new project Return of the Ghostbusters, set to start shooting in the fall. This donation will get me listed as an executive producer in the credits, and if it's half as successful as its predecessor the flick should make onto IMDb.com, meaning that my name will be on IMDb (a meaningless bit, but a feather in my cap at least). So this is my first break into the small-time, and believe it or not, I am excited about their new project and being even loosely associated with it.

The second purchase that I have recently made is a book called $30 Film School, which is a beginner's guide on how to make cheap movies on mini-DV. It goes through the very basics of lighting, shooting, cameras, producing, editing video and sound, etc. Everything the starting filmmaker needs to know. The book is written by Michael Dean, who is a former west coast punk musician turned documentary filmmaker (D.I.Y. OR DIE: How to Survive as an Independent Artist). The book also comes with a CD-ROM full of supplementals and step-by-step how-to stuff covered in the book, but some dipshit stole the CD out of the back of it, so I had to e-mail the publishing company and wait a couple weeks before it arrives. No biggie really, but a pain in the ass that could and would have been avoided if I had noticed it before bought it. The book has some very useful information for any aspiring directors out there, plus it's an easy read (I'm in the mid 100s and I consider myself a slow reader). Right now I'm on the section about editing software and screenwriting programs that format your scripts for you.

The next purchase on my list is a book called Rebel Without A Crew by Robert Rodriguez, writer/director/editor of El Mariachi, Desperado and Sin City. I really enjoy most of Rodriguez's work, I've never seen any of his Spy Kids series, his student work, or his most recent digital escapade, The Adventures of Shark Boy and Lava Girl in 3D, but I have seen the rest of his resume including From Dusk 'Til Dawn, and Once Upon A Time In Mexico, which are least favorite, but I'd say that that has more to do with the script than anything else.

I've been talking with my friends and I'm trying to figure out something we could do over a weekend or two. Time and logistics are the least of my concerns., it's the fact that we don't have anything to shoot like a short story or something of the kind that is holding me back, and writing hasn't been the easiest thing for me to do over the past few months. We'll figure something out though. Actually I've got a pretty good idea, I just need to flesh it out a bit. I'm gonna get on that.

Until next time, go check out Hank Braxtan's wares. You can find Hank and his buddies at www.braxtanfilm.com

posted by bumbletbw @ 8:21 AM