Film School Guy

Term 2, Week 3: Life as a 201

2010-08-22T05:51:00.000-07:00

So here it is. Second term of film school. That first term really went by fast. Theres a certain level of pride one gets taking the next step in this adventure called film school. The whole "im not a freshman anymore" kinda feeling. But what does my second term have in store for me?

One thing I've noticed during the first few weeks of film school is the emergence of the different quirks, styles, preferences and personalities each student has with their work. Its really great seeing 10 different minds trying to create a unique and gripping concept and story. I for one, really didn't notice what my style was until someone really pointed it out. Now that I think about it, its not just what I want in my own work, but its also apparent in the movies that I really love.

It's my love for character development.

Every time I write a new script, I always find myself going out of my way to make sure the audience really knows about each character. Their backstory, their likes and dislikes, their mannerisms, things like that. Seing as that we are only going to be shooting short films in the school, I've been finding it difficult to limit my scripts to around 6-8 pages. I feel like even with a nice concept and story, it really dosen't feel that complete without the viewers really coming to grow and care about these characters. Although, thankfully, this term in my script writing class, we get to develop a feature length film. Maybe that would suit my writing style more.

I've also noticed that my love for character development also probably spawned from my love for video games. Especially those games where you really get to know the character.

For the second term in film school, our end of term requirement is a little different from last term. Everyone in my batch will submit a script but this time, the mentors will only choose 3 or 4 to be developed. Not only that but if your script does get chosen, you as the writer, cannot be involved in the creative process of that film in any form or level. Aside from that, the mentors will also choose our crew positions depending on our personal preferences and also based on our performances during the previous term. I for one think this is a great way to train us in how it works in the real world and the differentiation of roles. Like I said in a previous post, I'm really loving this style of just throwing us straight into the fray and letting us learn from the experience, just like how an eagle teaches its young to fly. I really think that it separates those who WANT to be a film maker and those who are just around to have fun.

Scripts and roles are going to get chosen tomorrow, Monday August 23.

Heres hoping my script gets chosen.

P.S.: I miss Manila. Dearly.

My 101 Film: The Stranger

2010-08-06T12:01:00.000-07:00

Hello friends! Here it is! My very first film in IAFT!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYJSBbad5xM

We were required to make a film without live recorded audio and dialogue. The challenge was that we needed to tell the story by just using visuals.

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Week 8: Final Stretch

2010-07-24T06:25:00.000-07:00

After nearly 8 full weeks of film school, I'm almost at a loss for words. A lot has happend over the last 4 weeks. Not just the ever increasing and deadly work load, but personally as well. While sifting through editing notes, rendered videos, finalized scripts, completed musical scores and production binders, I knew I needed to find time and post something.

It's been a while hasn't it?

These past 8 weeks have been such a great experience for me. IAFT has become more than just a school, its become like a second chance at something. Not only am I learning so much about the industry, but also so much life lessons as well. Not just from my personal epiphanies but also small bits of advice coming from our mentors in the school, two of which really stuck to me.

One of my mentors has been in the industry for a few decades now was telling us one day about his experiences in the industry. Hes had a wide range of jobs like being a mail room delivery boy for Disney to being a sound mixer for Paramount Pictures. Then he gave this piece of advice: "No matter what your doing, do EVERYTHING to the BEST of your ability and someone above you will notice."

My other mentor was telling us about this one problem he had in one of the productions he was working on. Being the head producer, he had to make multiple decisions, some on the spot. He made right ones, he made wrong ones. But ultimately he told us this: "Making the wrong decision is MUCH MUCH better than making no decision"

One thing film school will do to you, is really help you build a great work ethic. In every stage of a film production, it requires such excellent time management and organization. Film School will also really show you how much you WANT to become a filmmaker. This line of work isn't as glitzy and glamour-y as we think it is. It is hard work and it's definitely a job that requires extreme passion. Where else will you find people, waking up before the sun gets up, going on location, setting up, shoot for 12 hours, pack up, sleep and then do it all over again the next day. Its just amazing to see those people who are really hungry for more and are in love with what they do.

Ever since my last post 4 weeks ago, I've been busy editing. Spending hours upon hours in front of a monitor, headphones on, nothing but the glow of the screen illuminating the room. Editing timelines, trimming clips, aligning musical scores and still in the end always not being satisfied with the final product. It could just be freshman jitters but I for one, wish I did a much better job on my first film. During the first few days of editing, I felt like my film was utter garbage. Well, after seing it again and again for 4 weeks straight, I'm sure you would be sick of it too. It wasn't until I got the musical score from my friend, who did an AMAZING job by the way, that it really gave it more life, by then it wasn't that bad. After timing the score properly and adding some extra sound effects and some musical overtones, its gone form garbage to not bad at all. Are there things I'd like to change? Sure. But right now I'm just going to take note of my mistakes and make sure that I won't make the same ones next term.

In a weeks time I'll finally be home. Just for a break. I'm in serious need of some downtime. 8 weeks ago, I was a mere shell of my current self. Film school and living alone has done so much to me, in a good way. Three things in me took a huge leap in 8 weeks. My mind, my confidence and my soul. More knowledgeable, absolutely more confident and also, more at peace. There is nothing like knowing that your RIGHT where God has designed you to be. A year ago, I had my doubts of what I wanted to do in life, mostly because of fear of leaving Manila but out of all of this, after such a long time, I'm sure of one thing:

I love this, this is what I am made for.

PS: I will post my video soon, after it has officially been screened in IAFT. In HD!

Week 4: Shooting hell week

2010-06-25T07:27:00.000-07:00

This week is an absolute marathon. In a span of 7 days, I've been involved in 5 film shoots already with 3 more coming up in the next 3 days. I've been Cinematographer and/or Assistant Director for two of those shoots, an Editor in one and Producer in the other.

Photo links at the bottom of the page

My MOS (Mute out sound) shoot went extremely well. I'm so exhausted due to the lack of airconditioning in the location I shot in, but I'm happy. I never expected it to go so fast. I just really had a clear vision on what shots I wanted, in what angles and the certain camera positions. Sure it didn't all work or looked good at first, but thats the life of a filmmaker!

So far I've been having mixed thoughts about my dream to eventually become some big time Producer. After really understanding the differentiation of all the jobs in a film set, to be honest, the MOST FUN has to come from being the Director. Being the main creative mind behind the film production just feels so awesome. Sure the Producer MIGHT have a say in it, if its his idea or hes funding it. But ultimately, its the Director's vision that comes to pass, thats why he got hired in the first place.

Don't get me wrong, I'd still love to be a Producer, but just having your vision come to life, the way you saw the film, the specific shot angles you wanted, all being displayed in the big screen.

Now THAT must be an awe inspiring experience.

Director? Producer?

Hmm.... its a toss up right now.

Only time will tell.

_____________________________________
MY MOS SHOOT DETAILS

Title: The Stranger
Directed and Written by: Timmy Del Rosario
Director of Photography: Andrew Perry
Producer: Paul Halili
Actors: Stephen Severino, Rozie Reyes, Paul Halili
Documented by: Kyle Cabigon

PHOTO LINKS:

Facebook

or

Photobucket

First Film Shoot Pictures

2010-06-22T07:48:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! I have just recently uploaded some pictures from our very first film shoot from our batch!

Here are the details:

Title: Ballerina Shoes
Shooting Date: June 20
Directed and Written by: Jorge Dela Cruz
Director of Photography: Timmy Del Rosario
Producers: Andrew Perry and Paul Halili
Actors: Alexia Barton and Earl

click through for the links

Links:

Facebook Album

Photobucket Album

Week 3: Acting class auditions and a dilema

2010-06-16T01:56:00.000-07:00

Today, was the day we had to do our memorized monologues for an audition in one of the two bits we were going to act out at the end of the term. The two bits are from two very popular movies, "Reservoir Dogs" and "Breakfast Club".

I woke up today, calm and relaxed. Then I saw a piece of paper with scribbles and notes in the margins. Then it hit me, today is the day that I had to do my monologue! Slight panic ensued in my tiny flat, until I realized, I'm in pretty good shape having memorized it the day before. My fear was probably coming from my innate dislike for public performances.

As the dreaded time approached, I went up on stage and did my piece, having a few errors here and there but I tried to work it into the performance. In the end, our mentor and the other older acting students were surprised by the performances of our batch of filmmaking students. "Night and day from the previous batch".

As acting class progressed, we started to do cold-readings from two scripts, "Reservoir Dogs" and "Breakfast Club". After a few readings and switching of characters, our mentor for acting finally decided to concretely choose our specific roles to practice for the eventual play of this small bit of the movie.

I landed the role of Mr. White played by Harvey Kietel in the movie.

But I'm at an impasse, in a personal level.

For those of you who know me, I'm NOT a person who swears or curses, at all. I've never really appreciated such words, even if used in the right context. But my character has a bunch of swear words, as can be expected from a Quentin Tarantino movie.

Is this what some actors say that who they are on screen, is not the same person as the one acting them? Morals can shift, creeds can change?

Like I said, a personal impasse.

I'm probably blowing such a simple thing out of proportion but hey, humor me.

Week 2 - Day 8: The Man Who Killed Don Quixote and Acting Monologues

2010-06-08T21:35:00.000-07:00

Today during our Producing 101 class, we saw a documentary called "Lost in La Mancha" which is a behind the scenes look at a movie, shot in 2000, called "The Man Who Killed Don Quixote". Due to an amazing amount of bad luck, the project was eventually scrapped, 16 million of the 32 million dollar budget down the drain.

The re-imagining of the tale of Don Quixote was dreamt up by writer and director, Terry Gilliam. He was also behind movies like "Twelve Monkeys", the Monty Python Series and more recently "The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus".

After watching the documentary, I was really dismayed that they never really got to finish the movie, although its back in pre-production again and is scheduled for a 2011 release. The series of extremely unfortunate events was so unbelievable, you would think it was actually a movie! From heavy rains and floods that destroyed equipement, to the actor of Don Quixote himself, Jean Rochefort, having a serious injury.

I seriously hope this never happes to me, if ever I do get to be part of a film with a multi-million dollar budget.

Today I also learned basically how indie film makers make money. For Hollywood, 2 million dollars for a film is considered low budget already. For aspiring film makers, one of the best ways to make money is to try to enter film festivals such as:

- Sundance

- Cannes

- Toronto

- Berlin

If you can't make it in those festivals you can also give your work to "film markets". These are basically open tradeshows where you can show your film freely without having to apply.

In these two events, distributers and studios come and will look for a film they would like to distribute in whatever country they originate from. They will buy the film from you for X amount of dollars which is basically pure profit for the filmmaker. Sometimes there are also royalties involved, getting a percent of each ticket or dvd sales.

Wouldn't that be something? I can only imagine what it must feel like to have your film show in such a prestigious festival like Cannes and then some big shot distributer/studio comes along and asks to buy your film for millions of dollars? Sigh. I've got a loooong way to go!

Today I also had Acting class. Every time we have to do something in that class it just terrifies me. Today we also had to bring 3 monologues for us to practice for an audition for our end of term 10-minute play! Eventually, we get to choose one and memorize it for the ACTUAL auditions next week.

For those of you who do know me, you will know that this is NOT my cup of tea! I don't DO plays! I just keep telling myself that this is all part of becoming a good film maker. Hoboy.

Week 2 - Day 6: End of Term Project and "DVC"

2010-06-07T09:25:00.000-07:00

As our major requirement for the first term, each student in my batch, Batch 3-10, has to shoot an MOS short film. MOS means "Mute-out-sound" or basically, no live sound recording and no dialogue.

Here is my concept:

A Man and a Woman meet as they run for their lives from a Hooded Man in Black. The Hooded Man turns out to be Cupid, scaring the two of them to meet.

As of today, we finished our first drafts of our scripts and the feedback from my script seems very positive. Just a few more tweaks with my script formatting and a little fix in the ending of my story and I should be good to go.

Also today we received our Digital Video Certification or DVC. For about half the day, the equipment staff of IAFT took us through a basic course on how to use certain equipment for our shoots and more importantly how to use the equipment safely. We learned about certain pieces of equipment like the lights, stands, reflectors, shades and others.

Film vocabulary of the day:

Logline - a short summary of a film found on the front page of a screenplay and is usually less than 3 sentences long.

Week 1 - Day 1 - 5: A New Beginning

2010-06-06T09:01:00.000-07:00

After my first week in film school, I'm starting to enjoy it here. Even if there is no actual shooting going on yet, I'm really glad I decided to study here. I've learned more in my first week than I ever have about film. From things like the different meanings of different kinds of producers to the history of editing.

Things that happend this week:

- Orientation and course overview for each class

- Cebu Photo shoot field trip

- Saw my first 16mm film camera up close

Over the course of the next year, I will be posting regularly about the things I've learned, experiences, photos and hopefully some of the notes I've taken down during class.

Stay tuned!