Although we may be filmmakers by trade, we are storytellers by nature. Venture into our world and let us weave a tale for you. We will tell you about life and love and fear and pain. We will show you laughter and tears, the devil and God. The story is the lifeblood of our world and nothing matters more.
…So lean close, and let us tell you a story.
8:57AM by Brandon McCormick | Cetagories: News and Updates
The camera is wrapped and the extras have gone home. Everyone high fives each-other and we all leave set knowing we worked our hardest. The crazy part is, making the film has just begun. Awake O’Sleeper is in the editing process, where it will stay for a few weeks. There are over 70 shots for the three minute film, and with those, about an average of 10-15 takes for each of those, resulting in about 6 hours of footage in the can. Sure seems like a lot, but sometimes that’s what it takes to get it right. One of my goals as a filmmaker is to have no regrets. No sitting in the editing room saying ‘oh, I wish I shot that this way’, or ‘I wish we took a better take of that’. So the pain on set becomes the excitement in the editing room. For Awake, I have a lot of great stuff to work with, which makes editing less of a chore and more like a fun search for what will make the piece incredible.
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Tags: awake, color, editing, final cut pro, o'sleeper, post, Production
9:02AM by Brandon McCormick | Cetagories: News and Updates
The following pictures and post was written by Luanne Dietz, amazing still photographer and documentary storyteller.
At the end of the day, when the cameras packed up, the tapes are rolled back and the music is put away, the bottom line that rings true for all our crew is that we truly love telling stories. The individual talents we all have are merely just tools we’ve been given to be the best storyteller we can be.
Some of us tell stories best by picking up a camera, while others choose to journey with musical notes and bass guitars. Some even choose to be actors, providing a visual connection with this magical world the grip crew helps create.
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Tags: awake, filmshoot, o'sleeper, Production, wrap
5:40PM by Brandon McCormick | Cetagories: News and Updates
We just had one of our last preproduction meetings for the Awake O’Sleeper shoot. We film this upcoming Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, and we had plenty to discuss.
The last few days before a big shoot are usually nerve racking. You’re always second and triple guessing yourself. Do we have all the actors confirmed (12 for this one), do we have the food plan together, does everyone have a map of the location? These are the kinds of things that keep you awake at night. Not to mention the one question looming over all of our heads…is this gonna be any good? Seems to me there are many ways to screw up a film, and only one or two ways to do it great. Hopefully my crew and I have put in enough pre-thought and solved enough problems beforehand to make this film one for the books.
Oh yeah, and there’s that hurricane.
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9:18AM by Brandon McCormick | Cetagories: News and Updates
The following update is from Whitestone composer Nicholas Kirk, the mastermind behind all the score and music for our films.
“Hey, can you sing like a big burly man?”
That’s basically the question I asked a few friends recently. We just tracked a huge male group vocal for the new short ‘Awake O Sleeper’. It’s always fun to record background vocals (or “BGV’s” for you industry insiders out there) and this was no exception. We had 10 guys come in and sing their parts 8 times. That makes for 80 voices when it’s all said and done. That’s huge. That’s awesome.
Without getting too technical, the reason you record that many times is because, well, you can’t fake 80 voices. I always try and fake it for the demos, but in the end, more = more. The demo usually consists of Billy and myself singing the parts around 10 times to try and beef up what we’ve got and sell the idea. Problem is, it sounds like Billy and I singing 20 times.
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10:28AM by Brandon McCormick | Cetagories: News and Updates
Location scouting is probably one of the enjoyable parts of preproduction, but it can also be one of the most important. The location is the world that your film will take place in. It can be a pre-made set or a pre-existing place that you modify. Pick it wrong, and the whole texture of your piece will be off. Choose an alley that’s too clean and you wont get that gritty feel, pick a spot in the city that’s too modern and you’ll lose that ‘timeless’ feel you’re trying to achieve. One power-line, and you’re not in the middle of nowhere, you’re just playing in someone’s back yard.
For Awake O’Sleeper we wanted to have a very desolate looking place. It had to be specific, a gravel road, a field and lots of woods and kudzu. This seemed like an impossible mix, and it was looking like we were going to have to split the production up to accommodate the looks we were going for.
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Tags: awake, filmshoot, location, o'sleeper, scouting, sleeper
A little red flower takes a journey to find something more to life. Featuring the song “Off The Shelf” by the Wright Brothers
