*Curry College images from their files

No April Fools at Curry college, Milton, MASS

Swan and I have returned from another Boston adventure.  This time we were presenting The Devil’s Tail to students enrolled in the film program at Curry College.

We’ll take any excuse for a road trip, so we drove down again.  We nattered for hours in the car about what we wanted to say to students who were preparing for careers in media, and especially those who had already been seduced by the idea of making their own movies.

We decided that the most valuable perspective we had to offer was that of two people with a lifetime of experience both as talent/crew for hire in the film and television industry, who had put that experience to the test in creating our own original theatre, short films, and now feature film.

There are a seemingly infinite number of books, seminars, and classes now which purport to give you the nitty gritty on feature filmmaking and how to become a Hollywood playa, but they tend to bog one down in financial, promotional, and technical considerations.  In other words, the machinery and so-called “rules” of the business.    This can of course be very helpful.  It can also be very discouraging.  For those of us who aren’t primarily motivated by money and fame (note that I said primarily – I would love to be rich and famous as long as I could keep my soul, or at least visit it on weekends) this completely leaves out the question of passion and expression.  You know – art.  One of the things that makes life worth living.

Sure, filmmaking can be like producing widgets in a factory.  Look at the typical formula Hollywood movie.  Steve Carell and Tina Fey plus guys with guns chasing them around Manhattan equals  a $25 million dollar opening weekend.  Fine.  By now everyone and their grandmother knows you put a couple of big stars in a wacky situation and promote it on every available surface, you’re likely going to make a mountain of cash.

But film is not just a commodity.  It is as much an art as it is craft.  What gets Swan and I out of bed every morning and keeps us up until the wee small hours is not imagined millions, but a shared passion for storytelling (verging on mania) using all the tools at our disposal as filmmakers.

What I really wanted to convey to aspiring filmmakers was this:  the obstacles to making a feature are less than they have ever been.  If you have something to say, you don’t need more than a script, some actors, a video camera, a mic, and a computer with editing software.  That, and a few work lamps from the hardware store is pretty much all we had, and with that we were able to make a feature length movie that has played at international festivals and won several awards.  But more importantly, we were able to tell the story we wanted to tell, the way we wanted to tell it.  And we didn’t require anyone’s approval.

But this is still putting the cart before the horse.  Why make a movie in the first place?  It’s hard and there are so many ways it can go drastically wrong.  Success in any case is the opposite of assured.

Making an indie film can feel like scaling a mountain. Or in our case, a ruined Mayan pyramid

For me, the big broom that sweeps all these reasonable objections aside is
that WE HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY, and the best way for me to say it is by making movies. Way too often I see shorts and features that are devoid of meaning.  Their message is nothing beyond, “I love zombies” or “I am a misunderstood genius” or “I want to shoot commercials for loads of money”.  What a waste of everyone’s time.  If you are not genuinely reaching out to an audience, and trying to connect with them in a constructive way, you’re masturbating.  Go on, enjoy yourself.  But don’t ask me to watch.

Do everything possible to get good performances.  Respect actors and what they do.  Acting – good acting – shouldn’t be taken for granted.  Not everyone can do it.  The production of any movie that is about people, as opposed to, oh, CGI creatures and explosions, should be geared towards making sure that the best possible performances are recorded.  This means the director has to know what good acting is, and not be unduly awed by such things as big tits and/or the ability to memorize simple dialogue.  I would recommend to any aspiring filmmaker that they take some acting lessons themselves, so they know what’s involved.    But let me say this:  if it isn’t completely obvious to you that Robert Downey Jr. is an infinitely better actor than Tom Cruise, then there is no hope for you.

When auditioning, make sure the actor has the ability to take direction, to perform a scene in radically different ways based on suggestion.  When shooting, remember that the most important thing is to capture great performances.  So don’t be distracted or derailed by minor technical issues.  Spend as much time as possible with the actors in front of the camera, not tweaking endless physical details that no one will give a damn about if the story and performances are lousy.

I used to think that indie filmmakers I worked with who spent all their time setting up shots were misguided perfectionists, or idiots who didn’t understand the importance of performance.  Now I believe that consciously or unconsciously, they are simply afraid of engaging with the real dynamic crux of filmmaking, which is the actual performance.  If the moments between your actors aren’t alive and true, it’s all been a hollow exercise, and your movie goes down the toilet.

Those are my main concerns as a filmmaker, and happily they work well with my current status as a do-it-yourself guy.  My films may not have big budgets, but they can afford what really counts:  meaning, story, performance, taste.  And so can yours.

I think we managed to put these points across at Curry College.  We really enjoyed speaking with the students, which we did for several hours.  They were intelligent and engaged and they gave me hope that they will be producing great work.  I hope they keep in touch, because I want to encourage them to be the best filmmakers they can be.   Many thanks to Professor Jerry Gibbs for inviting us.  It sounds like he and Bob MacNeil are doing a great job of providing students with a balanced and practical view of film production.

The work never stops: 1 sheet mock-up of our next feature

… BELOIT TO BOSTON…

Yes and on back to the Boston area where we’ve been asked to speak at Curry College.

We’ll talk about the mad process of putting this big little movie into production, screen it, and then take questions.

It all happening this Thursday April 1st from 6 30 onwards at Curry College in Milton Massechusetts.

You can read the official info here or for more information please contact Jerry Gibbs, Co-Chairperson of the Communication department at Curry College at jgibbs0902@curry.edu

We’re delighted to announce that The Devil’s Tail has been nominated for BEST SCREENPLAY at the Beloit International Film Festival.

The awards will be presented at the cocktail reception on Thursday February 18th, 2010.

Happy New Year!

For those of you who have been following the posts here by Christopher and myself, you have seen or read about the New England Film Junkie piece on The Devil’s Tail we were asked to do for The Boston Herald.

The head of the film and television department department of a Boston college read that piece and got in touch via the contact form on this website. He sent a very nice email telling us that he found what we wrote about making a feature on a shoestring to be very true and refreshing, and wondered whether or not we’d be available to do a speaking engagement for his students.

The whole point of contributing to this blog, was that it started as a kind of Production Diary, and we wanted to share it with movie fans and aspiring or new filmmakers. You could call it evangelizing the process somewhat, but we DID decide to write here in part to make new or student or aspiring filmmakers feel like they could do it too. Or for other truly independent filmmakers to feel like they’re NOT alone; because when you’re working outside the system with very little or no money, that can be a lonely process indeed.

I’m reluctant to name the college here yet as the details have yet to be ironed out, so that might not be appropriate until the event can be publicized, but it looks as though The Devil’s Tail will be screened in April for the film and television students and followed by a talk by Christopher and myself… which is what we tend to do at film festivals anyway.

So yes; we ARE available for college screenings and speaking engagements, and we never would have been contacted if it weren’t for the piece in the Herald.
A reminder of the power of the press once again!

And I can’t think of a nicer way to return to Massachusetts.

Our article in The New England Film Junkie of the Boston Herald has been published!

And with a cool intro from Darren to boot…

Read it here.

Enjoy!

The Canadian premiere of The Devil’s Tail at the Moving Image Film Festival was a success. With only 2 weeks to prepare, we did as much as we could to promote. Of course, it’s the festival presenting the film, not us, and they do their own promotion, but we want the film to find its audience, so…Part I of that great interview came out just days before the screening, so that was great timing and thanks to the Toronto Film Scene for that.

Craig Allen, who never complains, flew into immediate action, adding laurel leaves to all our artwork and coming up with that flyer in web and print form so it could be emailed and posted on this site. We printed a small number of those flyers on our own laser printer and distributed them at the Mexican businesses we frequent, as we noticed many local cultural events leave printed material at these particular places, and it’s a great way to reach people who are not online. We also left them at Insomnia, which was hosting the opening night festival party.

We contacted the Mexican Consulate in Toronto who were very pleased to promote the screening, so notice got emailed to thousands of people on that mailing list; a staggering level of support for a cultural event, so thanks to Raul Suarez and all at the Mexican Consulate.

Thanks to Paco Luviano and Hannah Burgé for notice in their Music Village newsletter and getting DJ Larry Green to plug the screening on the radio on Jazz FM.

Craig Allen also facilitated the artwork of our logo on those cool buttons, which we were able to get for opening night… we treated the festival as if we were out-of-towners and went to the opening night screenings and party and gave those buttons to the audiences and party goers. They are already attending the festival; it’s called preaching to the converted and it works.

This was all to great effect, as we had a full house and got a great response…

Up un-God-ly early Sunday to shoot out in the countryside with Craig Allen, then back to screenings at the festival for closing night. We were exhausted and swore we were only going to attend one program of shorts and skip the party as we had another early day in production-for-hire yesterday.

Good thing we didn’t. We met filmmakers David Rodriguez and Chris Smith who had done beautifully visual work in the different programs of shorts… not only did we like these guys, we exchanged info as one offered future visual effects and the other offered equipment in Mexico on future shoots there.

The benefits from meeting fellow filmmakers at festivals are great, not the least of which is a sense of community…

On to the next festival. DT has been invited to the 8th Annual Boston Latino International Film Festival in late November…

Punky little button...

Oh how I love these 1.25 inch buttons…

Part II of the Comrie/Swan interview has been published in Toronto Film Scene!

AND…

The Devil’s Tail has been invited to the 8th Annual Boston Latino International Film Festival!  We couldn’t be more pleased.

They’re still working on the schedule, but we’re likely to play in the 2nd or 3rd weekend in November.

¡Felicitaciones a nuestros estimados colegas!

Chris Comrie and I were interviewed for the Toronto Film Scene… check out that spanky shot on the revolving headline!

Read Part I of the interview.

Buy Advance Tickets to The Devil’s Tail at the Across Canada/Foreign Works from Abroad screening 1 pm, Saturday October 17th.
(Tix also $10 at the door.)

See the Moving Image Film Festival schedule.

It is also posted as an event on Eventful and there’s a festival party Friday night at Insomnia.

SS

The Devil’s Tail will play as part of the Across Canada/Foreign Works programme at 1 pm on Saturday the 17th at 296 Brunswick Avenue in the Annex, along with a Lori Chodos short from Canada/Peru called El Turista.

Sunday night’s programme includes a short from Argentina called Saturday Night, Sunday Morning.

The Festival Schedule is available here.
Tickets are $10 in advance or at the door.

Enjoy!

Here are some nice words inviting The Devil’s Tail to Moving Image:

The Moving Image Film Festival would be honoured to screen “The Devil’s Tail” in Toronto on Saturday, October 17th 2009 at The Giggleshorts Theatre, as part of the Across Canada: Foreign Works From Abroad Showcase, commencing at 1pm.

Those of you familiar with theatre in Toronto might remember the old Poor Alex Theatre… now a venue for several local film festivals like Moving Image and Giggle Shorts.

Located in the Annex between 2 subway stations (Bathurst and Spadina) at 296 Brunswick Avenue, South of Bloor.

Now that 1 pm Saturday the 17th has been confirmed, it fast approaches, so back to work…

We will add updates here as they come in to us from the festival.

Look forward to seeing you there!