End of the Year Blues - Part 3: Optimists vs Pessimists

Oops.  So, in my last blog I wrote that it might be my "last blog" for the  year.  Here we are with a whole day and then some left to 2017 and I'm blogging again.  Why?

A few reasons.  My guests are all checked in and report they're doing fine.  It's cold outside and writing is more fun than yard work would be today.  Also, I have some news to report.  This is where the optimists vs pessimists part comes in.

Optimists are generally pretty happy.  Expecting things to work out.  I used to be one of these people, I think.  If I ever had those leanings, live certainly beat them out of me.  Making me a pessimist a lot of the time, or as I look at it, a realist.  Pessimists generally seem unhappy and worried most of the time to most people, however, while optimists will often find themselves disappointed that things, in fact, don't always go to plan, pessimists more often find themselves either justified in their thinking and thus prepared for a bad outcome, or pleasantly surprised that things did indeed work out.  Optimists rarely have a plan B.  If something goes wrong, they're caught entirely off guard.  It is at t his point that they become unhappy, complain and start asking for help because they have no idea what to do.  Pessimists, however, usually have a plan B already set to go and may even have the pieces of a plan C in place should plan B fail.  When things go wrong on a prepared pessimist is when they smile to themselves, think "I knew this would happen" and move on to the next plan.  "This is what insurance is for," thinks the pessimist.  "I need a crowd funding page!" cries the optimist.  This is not to say one way of thinking is better than the other, although, realists who can be cautiously optimistic, yet prepared for things to sometimes go wrong, probably have the best balance of things.  Otherwise you're often nervous and worrying or sorely disappointed and caught unprepared.

How does this pertain to me?  Recently?  My last blog I said I wasn't optimistic that Amazon would get "The Simplest Things: Season 2" approved before the year's end.  Well, they did.  I am a pleasantly surprised, if not entirely happy, pessimist.  Why not entirely happy?  Well, the new file I uploaded because they claimed the old one "didn't sync", wasn't all that different.  I added a line and dropped a music indicator.  As far as I could tell there was no difference in how the captions sync with the audio at all.  What is different?  I amended the file's name with the word "FIXED" at the end of it in big capital letters like that.  Did they check it?  Did they check the first one?  Or did they just see the same file name and not bother to see if was, in fact a fixed file overwritten?  I can see not wanting to recheck the file on a feature, but on a two minute episode? Come on!

Watch The Simplest Things Season 2 Here.

I believe I set it for "Free with Ads".  That only seems to be showing up on the first episode, but if you have Prime I know you can see all six.  Don't rent or buy it if the episodes only being 2 to 3 minutes long will disappoint you.

End of the Year Blues - Part 2: And Showeroke Makes 20

This time of year many of use start making goals for a new round of 365 days that are going to "start fresh" on January 1st.  While I think goals are a good thing, I also rant about how foolish it is that we do it once a year and often abandon those goals at the first obstacle that makes us a lose a step or two before January is even over.  That said, I did set a few goals last year and as this year closes I can see that I hit one major one.

I wanted to have 20 titles on Amazon Prime before the close of 2017.  This is mostly because I also want to hit a monetary goal with my titles, which I missed by country mile this year, and 20 titles was one of the ways to get there.  It wasn't an arbitrary number at the time I came up with it.  I had read somewhere that 20 titles were the requirement for having a subscription channel.  There are many more requirements which I would now need to hit, but hitting that 20 titles at least showed me, that even with other jobs constantly poking their noses into the mix, I could make these things happen.

"Showeroke" is just about a minute long and went live only a few days, but it makes 20 titles on PRIME.  We actually have 21 on Amazon, but "All Wrapped Up" still needs closed captions.  A second season of "The Simplest Things" is still going through approval and with weekends and holidays not being days that count towards this process, I am not optimistic that it will hit before 2018.

There were some goals I didn't hit also.  I don't have a subscription channel.  I'm still finishing "Jack vs Lanterns" ( go buy about 200 posters at www.hocfocprod.com/lumbervsjack and I can take the time off to finish it off pretty easily ).  There are three or four things in my woodshop waiting for the finishing touch and so on.  However, as Facebook memories pop-up I start to see the answer to the question, "Where did all the time go?".  Weather, medical issues, injuries and family matters often pop-up.  If the worst these things cause is a delay in production or in finishing off a cabinet rehab, I'll take it.  Many find themselves deep in debt or worse over less. (Incidentally, these also wound up answering my other end of the year question, "Where did all our money go?")

So, as the year draws to a close, I urge you all to look more towards what you DID accomplish, rather than what  you didn't.  Didn't reach any of those goals you set last  year?  Hey, you're still here.  If they're still important to  you, keep them as this year's goals.  Make some new ones.  Maybe cut  yourself some slack and make them a little easier.  Resolve to wear matching socks every day that you wear socks this year.  Promise  yourself to keep up with those 5000 mile oil changes (you'll thank  yourself later). Maybe even set a goal to watch all 20 of my movies between January 1, 2018 and December 31, 2018.  I mean, by then, if I stay on track, there should be at least five more to enjoy ;)

Happy end of the year, gang.  Not sure if I'll be writing any more of THIS blog this year, but new videos will be popping up on my channel pretty much until New Year's even. http://www.youtube.com/c/hocusfocusproductions

End of the Year Blues - Part 1: Retail

As the end of another year approaches and the winter gets even closer it's easy to look back at the plans that didn't work out and the projects that have yet to be done, but this year I 'm going to try something different.  I'm going to bask in my successes, as small, silly and completely insignificant to others as they may be.

Recently, through the help of my wife changing her work schedule a bit in order to be able to concentrate on our business I fulfilled a desire do something I have wanted to try for YEARS.  Swimming with sharks? Nope.  Skydiving? Nah. If a plane is doing okay I'll just stay inside of it.  Wrestling alligators? Wouldn't be fair to the alligators. No, the thing I have wanted to do for years is work in a Halloween store.  I love Halloween.  October is easily my favorite month of the year.  The weather has been good in every state I have ever lived in during October.  The colors are great and people like to be spooky.  It's the real start to the Holiday Season.  The opening act to the fun the rest of the country seems to get all excited about.  But, I'm usually pretty busy this time of year.  Especially recently it's the wind down, but not the end of my hospitality work and since people are in the mood it's generally a good time to rally the troops and film something scary.

But this  year my wife was willing to handle the hospitality stuff and I decided to try for a nice, part time, temporary retail job.  I hadn't worked retail in decades. That's not entirely true, of course, since my self distribution has seen me selling DVDs and merchandise online and at shows, but store front retail is different.  It hasn't changed much except for the credit card scanners and laser bar code reading, but the "part time" thing didn't work out.  Circumstances had me get hired on as an assistant manager, which turned into an odd 50 - 60 hour week covering shifts.  In the end, it was mostly the fun I anticipated, but there were some drawbacks.   I was still handling some of the hospitality stuff.  Staying "on call" and handling emails on my breaks or when at home.  I was pretty much tired all of the time, so less editing and shooting got done than I would have liked and my decorations didn't get the full treatment they usually do.  I missed almost all of the trick or treaters on the actual night of Halloween.  On the plus side, the discount came in handy, I scored some cool props by know where they were and getting to work early the day after Halloween before my shift (  you see two of them in "Strange Gifts" and another is in a short we shot "X-24".   The job helped lead to our "shoot of opportunity" short film, which we hope to be able to show at festivals in 2018 and I met a few cool people.  Even though I didn't get to celebrate Halloween in the way I usually do, I did get to see it from a whole lot of different perspectives through the people I helped get decorations and costumes that month and that was pretty cool.  Plus, retail work always gives you a few stories to tell at a party.

Would I do it again?  I honestly don't see me having the time any time soon.  The time of year they really want people to start is right when I am in the busiest season at my other jobs.  If someone hadn't quit this year I probably never would have gotten the opportunity.

I am glad I did it.  Even though during the first week all I wanted was for it to be over.  Looking back it was a good experience.  And I think that's how a lot of years go.  Some are treacherously bad, I won't deny that.  But most, how good or bad they were, all depends on what kind of lens we look back at them through.

The Miniature Helicopter Experiment

This was largely a failure.  What we wound up doing after this was recording the rotor separately.  I would even consider using a mechanical helicopter's rotor recorded in front of a blue or green screen and super imposed on the model.  Still, I think it has more a physically real look than most low budget or indie CG copters I've seen in movies.

Annoying Your Friends and Family.

Remember when the internet and social media were a major part of grass roots marketing?  You told two friends and they told two friends and so on and so on and so on...

Now, you can have 5000 "friends" Facebook.  Countless followers on YouTube ( I do not ), Instagram and whatever else is running around out there.  But to get these large groups of friends and followers started,  you almost need to hit a "critical mass" number to get things started.

For YouTube, the magic number seems like 1000 subscribers.  Now, people to subscribe to so many things that you also need to click a "bell" icon in order to actually be alerted to when a channel you subscribe to posts something new.  The 1000 subscribers isn't a number I'm just guessing at.  YouTube uses that 1000 mark for a few things.  For example, my channel, with it's 258 subscribers (and shrinking at the moment ) can't enable "Super Chat".  I need 742 more subscribers to enable a feature that I don't even know how to use.  Also, videos that tagged "Not suitable for all advertisers", which could be for any number of reasons, including, "we're not sure it IS suitable for all advertisers so we're going to mark it as not suitable for now", will not be manually reviewed "until your video has at least 1000 views in a seven day period" or if you have 10,000 subscribers (a new magic number I've just noticed).

So, in order to hit these numbers, you need to start somewhere.  You would hope that putting out good, entertaining or informative content consistently would do the trick and it some cases, perhaps it does, but to me, it seems that most of the time, without a certain number of views to begin with, the automated systems don't "push" your content.  So, if you don't hit 1000 views in those first seven days, the likelihood of being at the top of a list during a search are pretty low.

How do you get those first numbers?  You bug your friends and family.  You try to get across how important it is that they like, comment and share your stuff.  The trouble is, if you're like me, you have a few dedicated cheerleaders, but their crowd isn't really the crowd that enjoys the genre you produce.  So, what you have is free advertising to the wrong market.  That becomes frustrating for them and eventually, the shares and watches, reviews and clicks become exhausting for all of you.

At this point,  you start to consider two things:
1. Giving up, which if  you've followed this blog, I have done before.
2. Paid promotional online marketing, which I don't think I've done since before this blog existed.  It was a total waste of money, time and effort, but I did attract a large following of people who wanted to sell me more of the same.

So, do  you risk annoying your friends and family with constant posts about sharing your stuff, watching it and bragging about it?  That's entirely up to you.  I can't even tell you that it has really worked for me so far.  I have seen if work for friends, so I suspect part of the problem is, I really just don't have than many friends and they may not enjoy my stuff that much, so it's hard for them to "pimp".  Like asking your buddy who is having a garage sale to sell that waffle maker you never use. You think it still works, but lost the cord three years ago.  Also, you would like to get $40 for it because you saw one for that much at Macy's and it wasn't even the cool avocado green that your "classic" model is.

Sorry, did I go off on a tangent?  In the end, ask  yourself a few things:
1. Do I try to lift others?  Do I share posts, projects, art and other things?
If yes, why not expect the same?
2. Do my not artsy friends still share stuff with me they know I can only really be interested in because it comes from them?  You know, like that video of a dance recital you have to watch, like and comment on, not because it's the best 87 minutes of ballet you've ever seen 3-6 years old perform, but because one of those kids, the one halfway in and who manages to stay on the stage for 32 seconds, was spawned by one of your friends.
If yes, why not expect them to watch, like and comment on the 4 minute short film you wrote, produced and directed for $6?
3. Do you really need friends who find your life's work "annoying"?
This is a big one.  Maybe it's okay that not everyone you're friends with cares how hard you work to make these things.  Maybe it makes sense that your success shouldn't depend on help from others.  I mean, when  your friend opened that shop, did they expect you do keep buying overpriced goods there instead of at the "big corporate place" that sold the same stuff for 1/3 of the price?  Maybe selling to your friends puts them off.  It's not like once a year you're hit with "offers" to buy magazines, cookies, candy or whatever thing you have no use for so their kid can go to the Washington and see how government works or get new football uniforms.  The real question here, for me, is not whether someone likes everything I do.  It's whether they find asking for simple help, like sharing, watching, subscribing, so annoying that they're willing to end a "friendship" over it, if they're a friend worth worrying about losing?  This past year, I've gone with "no".

Maybe if I annoy them all enough I can become known as "That Annoying Asshole, Jason" and build a following of people around that.  From what little bit of watching reality TV I've done, it seems like annoying assholes attract pretty fair sized fanbases.

By the way, if you'd like to help us hit that magic number of 1000 subscribers, our YouTube Channel is: www.youtube.com/c/hocusfocusproductions

The Multi-Job Shuffle - Mixing work with your passions

This time of year I usually try to make about writing because we're coming up on the slow season for my other business, people tend to have less time to travel for work during the holidays and the weather is a bit too unpredictable to schedule a lot of outdoor scenes.  Yet, I still find days, when even just writing, an indoor, not too costly, activity I can do by myself, is hard to schedule.

I have to meet a  guest mid-day today.  That leaves a few errands to run before hand and means I have to be available to answer questions or solve problems most of the weekend.  Mostly a great schedule for writing.  Except, I have some personality quirks that interfere.

One, when I start writing fiction, I can get kind of caught up in it.  An interruption leaves the world I'm creating in limbo.  I may be in the middle of my characters facing a monster or defusing a dirty bomb.  Nobody wants to leave that sort of situation mid-action to go to the grocery store for some paper towels.  It's a problem I can largely get over, but I do find myself avoiding it if I know my other job(s) will start before I think I'm finished.  Like right now, I'm blogging because I know I can finish this before I have to leave and even if I don't, I won't be leaving fictional characters in the lurch if I don't.

Two, for the movie review blogs, I need to watch a movie.  That's 90 minutes of a day gone.  I can get some other stuff done, but if I do, I'm not being fair to the movies I'm reviewing.  So, I miss a few of those a week. I can't watch the types of movies I review when I'm with family and friends unless they're the types who enjoy those movies too.  It's not fair to them and again, not really fair to the movie to have someone constantly interrupting me to talk about what they're reading on the phone because retro-independent-B cinema doesn't interest them.

Three, the CGM blog isn't getting a lot of news.  Maybe I'm not pursuing it enough.  Maybe we're not popular enough yet to be a place filmmakers and artists want to submit to and maybe, just maybe, the same slow down that makes this my "writing season", makes it less likely new and interesting things are happening in other parts of the indie world.

That said, content counts.  The more quality you put out the more loyal followers you'll gain, but you can't discount  quantity either.  I have clicks here and views on the YouTube channel even on days I producer nothing.  Why?  Because with enough content you're bound to have something floating around on the internet that someone, somewhere is looking for on any particular day.  Keep that content flowing and you can help people find information they need, keep them entertained, keep a steady flow of viewership and even have it happening on your days off.

If you see a big busy season approaching, stocking up on content and setting it to publish on specific dates is a way to go.  You need to either plan it to coincide with the date it will publish, like a "romance" movie in February, or make it general enough that the information isn't likely to change between when you create the article and when it posts.  Setting up weekly posts for March-October would be a good way for me to spend time in January and February.   So, don't be surprised if things slow down here, but do feel free to comment or write to me if you think I'm letting too much time slip by and have let the blogs down.  It usually happens at some point in the year and it takes me forever to "re-launch" them.  Blogs, vlogs and anything "serial" is like long term financial investing.  They do best when fed into regularly and are allowed to continue to grow.  They need adjustments with market trends, but the main factor to success seems to be a constant building upon the foundation you put down.  Any big lapses or withdrawals cause a need to rebuild and the loss is exponential. (Did I use that word correctly?)

Alright, heard my phone ping.  I may need to head off to work now.

I can see you! Or can I?

That time of year again.  The annual visit to the eye doctor.

Eye sight is one of those things many of take for granted, but we take it less for the granted the older we get.  It used to be I needed glasses for live events because I couldn't focus sharply, quickly without them.  As I got older I started to need them more for working a monitor.  Eye pieces can just be adjusted to one specific eye, but some of my cameras don't even have an eyepiece, leaving me with an LCD to use for focusing.  Especially the smaller cameras I use in "run and gun" situations or that I have on me in less than ideal weather conditions, etc.

Also, those who know me or have followed me for awhile know, I have a chronic eye condition, that is now under complete control with meds, but that was a terrible distraction for nearly two years.  I need to see my eye doctor regularly to keep track of that and so that he can refill my prescriptions for it.

When it comes down to it, shooter, editor, director or just reviewer, my eyes are important to the work I want to do with movies.  A once a year trip to make sure they're working as well as they can and are staying in good in health really isn't too much to ask, I suppose.  Glasses on other hand can get pretty pricey, but not having them when I need them will cost me more in the long run.

So, yes, I can see  you, but if I'm not wearing my glasses, I probably can't see you too clearly.  So, if you see me on the street and I don't wave, don't think I'm being rude ( I may be, but don't think that ). If I'm wearing sunglasses, they're not prescription and  you're probably a little blurry.  If I'm wearing no glasses, same thing.  If I am wearing glasses, but have a camera around my neck or in my hand, those are likely my "close up" glasses and anything more than 10 inches away is even blurrier than if I don't wear glasses at all, but my photos will be crystal clear (if I'm paying attention) and that's what really matters.

If you really want me to wave back and shoot me a text saying something like, "That blur waving to you is me."  I'll probably smile and wave back.

And I admit, I do tend to leave my glasses off when I'm not working or watching a movie because many things look just a little bit better when they're slightly out of focus.

Hoop Jumping and Self Distribution

So, today's blog will tie in with yesterday's a bit.

I am currently "my own boss".  I "run" two businesses with varying degrees of success and have for a good portion of my adult life been "my own boss".  As a freelancer and in hospitality this has really meant always working for a new boss.  Sure, I make the policies I work by, but clients need to be happy to come back again and the demands of freelance work change regularly.  You have laws to guide you and professional wisdoms to follow, but in the end, the client is the "boss", you just get to decide whether or not you're working that week.

Self-distribution isn't much different.  Trying to distribute a film is an odd thing.  You own the rights (or should ) to your creation.  You want to get it out to the masses.  You need  help doing that.  When you work with distribution streams, you're the "client", so you're the boss, right?  Not really.  They also have viewers to consider as clients and they're the ones sending the money in.  You're a product provider and they can get more product as long as the distribution channel is providing money.  You become stuck using "middle men" to get  your movies seen.  Even when  you distribute yourself you need third party help for payment methods, storage, channels, streaming, store placement (if you still deal with physical media).  All of these companies have similar, but different requirements and you find yourself in control of  your own work, but not entirely.

Amazon Video Direct is a good last leg for making money on an older title, but the pay isn't great unless the numbers are super high and since it's become very crowded, there's a lot of competition just to be noticed.  They also make it nearly impossible to promote your "brand" beyond the viewing of  your movie.  I understand the reasoning behind not letting producers throw web addresses on art work and in videos. They don't want people led to random sites.  You can bet major studios still get to put URLs in the credits though.  What bothers me is that you can't even mention social media pages, like Facebook.  It's an established brand, but I had a video flagged for suggesting viewers "look for us on Facebook".  I guess they're afraid they'll click away right away.

Season 2 of "The Simplest Things" for example had an episode held up for this very thing, I believe.

The "Help Desk" doesn't get very specific.

Not being able to use one movie to sell  more movies is a major drawback.  It also means having to export multiple versions of a movie from YouTube to Amazon to Physical media.  A bit annoying when it's not your only job.

I would love to sign my movies over to a distributor and be done with it, but I've done this before and there are a few types of distributors out there.  Ones that deal with bigger ( or even better ) movies than mine, ones that are honest, but take such a shotgun approach to titles that you don't make much and ones that aren't honest at all, sell your movie for five years, make money, but always find a way to manipulate paper work as to show that they don't owe you anything.  Then there's the last.  The ones that do NOTHING with your film for months...and months...and months.

Bottom line, they care about their bottom line.  You care about YOUR movie.  It's your creation.  Your "baby" and nobody will love your baby like you do.  Experiences like this are why I like to keep as much control as I can over my titles.  The control may be an illusion.  It may cost me money in the short run, but as I build my library it helps to be able to throw old titles back into the mix when I see fit and not have to wait for new titles to be released when a distributor runs out of other stuff to promote.

It's also possible that I'm just impatient.  

Filmmaking and Your Ego

We've all got an ego.  Its size and health may be different from person to person.  Whether or not it's deserved or not is usually a matter of opinion, sometimes based on fact.  The main thing about it, whether it's strong or fragile, our egos can get in the way of our every day lives.

The first thing you need to do with your ego if you want to get into filmmaking is throw that sucker away.  You should have confidence.  Take pride in your work, like with any job, but don't let your self worth rest on reactions to your films or how financially successful they are.  Failure is part of learning and I have learned a lot in my life.

But seriously, if you're making movies to be famous, or rich, then independent may not be the market for you.  Go to Hollywood where ego stroking of the rich and famous is the way the business is run (although that looks to be changing soon).

Have confidence that you're doing your best.
Do try to entertain.
Do craft a good story.
And do continue to have faith in your own abilities and those of the people you choose to continually work with.

Do not give up on a project for fear it may be "silly".
Don't be afraid to look a bit silly yourself.

This morning I did an "Inside HFP" video in my pajamas and in need of a shave.  Was it the most professional image I could put out there?  No, but it's me.  I often work in my pajamas and do a darn good job of it.  I have lots to do this morning and probably would have skipped on the video if I didn't get it done when and how I did it.  My Ego said, "Forget it.  You'll look stupid."  My 46 year old sense of what others think said, "Eh."  If I had a branding agent, she would have scolded me, but I can't afford one, so there  ya go.

I guess, maybe,  you should go to the trash, scoop out your ego, dust it off and keep it for times  you need it, but realize, it's yours.  A tool to use as you wish and set aside when it gets in the way.

Now, go watch me drink coffee, babble about advertisers on YT and see a sneak clip from Jack vs Lanterns on the screen in the background. 

Low Budget Prop-making: Giant Pumpkins.

I use latex when I have to, foam when it's called for, but love paper Mache as a medium because:

1. It's pretty safe to use
2. Aside from the paint it's pretty safe for the environment.  It recycles materials that later will also break down.
3. It's inexpensive compared to other methods.
4. A bit of extra time decides whether it's tougher/more durable or not.  Not a lot of extra expense in making a tougher piece of paper Mache.
5. You can shape it into nearly anything.

Destined to be Holiday Classic

Well, maybe that's giving it too much credit, but  hopefully those who find it will enjoy it.

If you read yesterday's blog you know that I had an early morning inspiration to film a Holiday Themed movie, edit it and have it online before nightfall.  It was my goal for the day, film-wise.  I still haven't gotten it posted to Amazon Video Direct, because I need to caption it.  I should be able to achieve that today, as it's only 5 minutes and is largely "silent" until the end.  This being a Friday, however, means that if I get it posted today, tomorrow or early Sunday, doesn't make a difference.  It will be lucky to hit Amazon as "published by Thursday of next week, so I will make sure I get the rest of my day done first.

To be sure it can be enjoyed for the  holidays, I am posting it here.  Since it's only five minutes, give it a watch before  you decide whether or not to show it to the kiddies.

A few details about the short.
-Since I didn't really have much time to cast, I played both roles.  That sort of dictated how the "fight scene" was choreographed.
-The script was never written down.
-The snow footage was footage I shot last weekend to have as "stock" footage in case I needed it.  I adjusted the color and lighting to give it a more "night time" look since it was shot late morning or early afternoon.
-The Music is from Fresh Music Library's "Holiday Sampler".  Very handy this time of year.
-I bought the Santa suit YEARS ago three days after Christmas for 75% off (I think).  I need to upgrade the wig and beard if I plan to use it in anything "serious".  I sort of want to check Thrift Stores to see if there is a more beat up to use in things which might get it bloody.
-The entire thing was lit with a single clamp light from the "small light kit" I showed in a video at "Inside HFP" as a good starter kit.  I didn't even use a stand for it.  This was mostly to show what could be accomplished with a single 100w clamp light.  The Christmas lights were the only other lighting used.
-The dialogue was "in camera". In other words, we used the on camera mic.  This likely wouldn't have worked as well outside or with the camera further away for any important lines.

I hope you enjoyed it, gang.  Below are some more videos for you to watch, including the one on small light kits and the one from earlier the same morning when I set this up as a goal for the day.  Please visit the Hocus Focus Productions YouTube channel for more on how to make your own movies without much money.

PS, let me know if you would like or even need a video on how we did the "teleport" effect in this video.  I used a stock clip for the particles, but there are simpler ways to do it nearly as effectively and it's a handy simple little thing to have in your bag of tricks.

5:00 AM Film Inspirations and Ideas.

If you're like me, you write your own stuff.  Your own stories and your own scripts.  Well, the world around you sort of helps.  It inspires you.  Also, if you're like me and many other "creatives", inspiration can hit at the oddest times.

I fell asleep early last night.  Winter always puts my sleep schedule off if I'm not terribly busy doing other things, which is one reason I live in the South.  So, I also woke up early.  I checked my Facebook before making coffee and a friend's post was asking for "Christmas Posts".  Trees (still decorating ours), Movie Downloads ( I don't do the pirate thing with movies for obvious reasons ) and cheerful MEMEs.  It reminded me of a video I did a few years back of Santa fighting zombies as a way to explain to why gifts to my family were going to be late that year.  In reality, it was because I was filming something, I think.  Anyway, I thought it was funny, but it's a bit specific to my family and dated, so I thought it wouldn't do, but I had always wanted to expand on that idea.  And so,  a new video idea emerged.

Of course, it's just a rough idea, so maybe a two minute video?  A very short, short.  And now I am left trying to keep it this way.  Working on keeping the idea simple.  Something I can shoot at home, with costumes I already have, my wife on camera and just me in front of the camera.  Very few lines, because when posting a short to Amazon Video Direct, the less lines you need to caption, the better. I have been learning this the hard way with "The Simplest Things".  Having a Narrator spell everything out makes for a lot of typing later.

So, hopefully that 5 AM inspiration will be this evening's shoot because it's a holiday movie and needs to be online as soon as possible.  YouTube will post it as soon as it's finished, but Amazon will take two to four days from the day of posting and this being a Thursday that can mean six or seven days because they don't count weekends, holidays or the actual first day that you post it.

There will likely be no movie review today.  I didn't get to finish watching the indie I was watching  yesterday, but we did get some other blogs up and I'll share the title of the movie I started watching over at Indie Streams, so you can give it a watch for yourself.

New Inside HFP video also coming later today on our YouTube Channel and probably a holiday short there by the weekend.

We did get it done!

Making Your Little Movie BIG

There are a few ways to add production value to an independent effort. In one of my recent "Inside HFP" videos I talk about how, like with anything in life, you have to ask in order to get.  We had quite a few local businesses come to our rescue for completing "Jack vs Lanterns", and I appreciate them all.  That video will be cycling into this blog eventually, so I won't post it here, but I would like to expand on the subject.

In my Indie Movie Review Blog  this morning I reviewed a movie entitled, "Close Encounters of the 4th Kind: Infestation From Mars".  There was some acting, some F/X and a few audio moments that gave away the movie's smaller budget, but the scale was HUGE.  It seemed like the whole town was behind this film and in a good way.  There were celebrities, police cars, fire trucks, a burning building, tremendous crowds and more.  Pop over to the review for my take on it.

Now, getting the town behind your movie can be tricky.  If they say "no", you can put yourself on a radar screen you don't want to show up on.  But if they say yes, the results can be amazing.  For "Stopped Dead", I had written in a scene that took place at fun park.  It was way more than my budget could handle, but I had a plan to shoot most of the scenes as the characters walking around, and doing the dialogue in a corner that didn't matter much.  I made that my back up plan.  Then we went to Fun Spot, told them my budget for the day, and were treated like royalty.  The scene adds some huge scope to the movie.  We still went with the montage, but the park had staff and put up signage to cover use for "extras" that may be scene during filming.  I was very glad I had done it.

Being able to shoot wide shots from high angles adds scope.

With the right score, this shot added a really eerie feeling to "Stopped Dead" 

The one drawback to favors like these is that if your film looks "too big", other shortcomings, like low budget F/X will not be so easily forgiven as "well, they didn't have the money", because now you LOOK like you had a lot of money.  So, there's a balance there.  For example, we couldn't get by with our usual canned music after the movie appear so large in other ways, so we enlisted the help of award winning composer Rob Reider to create a score.  He worked with our budget and the score is amazing.  We were lucky enough to work with Rob just before he became an award winning composer (like literally, he had finished the score that won him that early award, but the festivals hadn't run yet while he was composing the score for "Stopped Dead")

So, what's my advice here?  Ask for help when you need it.  See if you can get  help when it will just improve your movie, but realize that once you raise certain parts of your production to a higher level, it may take the shine off of your more indie looking scenes.  That small office you shot in might not have looked small until you filmed another scene in an actual crowded movie theatre.  I always think it's worth the risk to get as many big scenes done as you can, so long as they fit the story and move things forward.

In the short film, "X-24" we had a whole building to shoot in, so we tried to take advantage of the space

to create an ominous feeling of isolation by showing our character as a "small" thing in this 

huge empty place.

DO Have That First Cup of Coffee

I'm here to tell you that no good comes from skipping "that first cup of coffee" or whatever  your morning wake-up ritual is.  Taking a shower, doing push-ups, walking the dog or whatever else it is that you do to let your brain start working before you start working is worth the time.

Some of you know that I run a few businesses from home.  Obviously, Hocus Focus Productions, our little video and movie production company is one of them.  The other is a house rental company I run with my wife, Little Creek Rentals, LLC.

Hocus Focus Productions actually consists of a few sub-businesses.  Photography and video for hire, book publishing ( we haven't done a lot of that) and production of our own movies and shows.  Little Creek is also a bit of a double business with a vacation rental and a residential rental.

This morning I woke  up to an inquiry about the vacation rental and tried to respond (quick response times are "rewarded" on most of these automated websites) and totally dropped the ball.  I accidentally sent payment requests because I guess I forgot to uncheck an box.  I should have waited until I was fully awake.

Since I had to come into my office to fix that problem because obviously I was too tired or too daft to use the APP properly, I decided to check on email, which led to me seeing that I could promote my book, "Off the Rails and Other Tales" in new ways on Amazon.  I decided I'd give that a shot.  The book has been out for years, sales were down, but with Christmas around the corner, it seems like a good time for a sale.

I visit the page.  I realize I haven't been there in awhile, and have no idea what my sign in info is.  I finally figure that out and it wants me to reload the book file.  No idea why, but I decide to do it.  First I have to find the file, from years ago and apparently a different computer.  Luckily I had moved the archived files to this machine and after some searching I think I found the right file.  More filling out of forms and I get to the promotions selection.  I click it, but my book is too inexpensive.  I have to raise the price, so that I can put it on sale.  What?!  Why am I get emails about a promotion I can't participate in?  Mind you, this was specifically sent as a "Promote it before Christmas shopping ends
 kind of deal.  So, I raise the price, so that I can run the promotion.

I FINALLY get to the promotion page.  I can't start the promotion until the book has been at the new, higher, less likely to sell price, for 30 days.  Do that Math, gang.  Nearly two weeks after Christmas shopping I can have a competitive price again.

Nearly two hours and all I've done is create more work for myself, overprice my ebook (if it's still 99 cents, grab it now), lose a booking on my cabin and write this blog.  I'll bet it needs a lot of editing, but I'm going to post it now to keep in my true form for the day.

Meanwhile, I'm going to brew some coffee, play with dog and maybe do a couple of push-ups.

We'll be posting a video to our YouTube channel later today. 

While you wait for that, enjoy this: 

E-casting Tips and Tricks

Casting via online means can be tricky.  Both the casting director and actors submitting have some hurdles to overcome and sometimes, depending on how quickly a role needs to be filled, there is little to no chance to meet in person first.  A poor casting choice can ruin a movie or at least make a shoot very, very difficult.  These are some things I do to try and avoid those types of situations.
Also, getting a role can be tough.  Here are some ways to make the casting directors feel better about  your submission and make it easier for them to find it in the mess of emails they'll be sent.

Taking Advantage of Unusual Events

Always have the batteries for your cameras charged, an empty card ready and your sticks where you can find them.  Follow the news and social media for special events that might make good stock footage for your future projects.  It can save you time and money later looking for the perfect shot.

What the World Needs Now, is More Dinosaurs

OK, maybe not.  The Jurassic Park Franchise is still kicking out movies and there are all those old classic dino movies.  SyFy did a year or two of B CGI-laden dinosaur flicks and indies pump out coat tail riders and mockbusters every time a "Jurassic" movie hits theatres.

So, I guess what I mean is, MY world needs more dinosaurs.  I just finished shooting the season 2 Finale of "The Simplest Things" (Season 1 is Already available on Amazon Prime) and went back and released the Season Premiere, shot six years ago, onto YouTube.  I had never loaded the full movie up there.  It features, as you may have guessed, a dinosaur.  Not one of your fancy CG dinos, but a stop motion, shot with a digital still camera, plastic toy dinosaur.  And you know what?  I love it.  It's cheesy, but so much fun.  It made me feel like a kid again, when the dinosaurs I saw on TV rainy afternoons were a lot like the ones I played with.

So, in Season 3, I'm bringing back the dinosaurs.  When I make my holiday movie, I may find a way to get a dinosaur in there. ( "The Dinosaur that Almost ate Christmas" is my first holiday movie to accomplish that.)

  If I send astronauts into deep space, maybe they'll encounter dinosaurs.  Who  knows?  The possibilities are endless when you embrace the power of a green screen and the time consuming process of stop motion animation.

So, keep an eye on our YouTube channel and look for our name, Hocus Focus Productions, on Amazon if you want to see upcoming dinosaurs and maybe a giant spider or two.

There will always be a delay.

Never sit down at your computer to check email, social media or your blog when you're supposed to be shooting in a few minutes.

We're trying to finish up filming on "The Simplest Things", Season 2 (watch Season 1 here), when my messenger dinged.  I checked it and it turned into a legal conversation about something I filmed  years ago.  Friendly stuff, because I try to work with friendly people, but it involved looking up paperwork, checking on some agreements between several parties and leaving things as "we'll keep looking into it", which I'm not a fan of.  I like close ended discussions so I feel like things got solved.

Anyway, now I'm about an hour behind my already loose schedule.

Whenever you schedule a shoot, expect delays.  Expect things to come up.  Buffer.

Today's shoot is all indoors, mostly studio, so time of day doesn't really matter and the cast and crew are all "in house" (Me and mine), so an hour isn't a big worry, but on a shoot with multiple set ups and locations and people meeting in different places at different times, it can really set off a domino effect if you're not padded for it.  As indies we tend to try and squeeze in more than we can possibly do.  Make sure you have a fall back plan, some free time between locations and people who know who to contact at the next set up in case you're running late.

A set manager who an prepare most things before you and main cast members arrive can be helpful in situations like this.  It's a good time to give someone you trust some responsibility and see how they run with it.

Now I've delayed things a bit more, so I'd better go.  Forgive the typos.

-Jason

Affordable Chroma Key

Always wanted to use Chroma Key in your movies, but didn't think  you could afford it?

It's gotten a lot easier on the editing end, so all you need is the physical "studio".  Fortunately, your options are many.  They vary in quality, but you can started pretty affordably.

Watch the video and put together your Christmas Gift Request List from there.

Repairing an ape suit, part 2

Repairing any monster suit, really, is like repairing anything else.  Find materials that will work, get some paint together.  And cut and stick.

You can jump ahead of the blog and watch the most recent videos on our YouTube channel.
http://www.youtube.com/c/HocusFocusProductions

When you're on tight budgets, you fix things

I've used my ape suit in a few shorts and at lest one feature.  Parts of it have been used in photo shoots and I have plans to use it more.  A decent ape suit is a staple for monster movies and a "go to" piece if  you need a creature on short notice.  It's a staple that every monster filmmaker should have in his arsenal.  So, when the chest on mine started to fall apart, I started to brainstorm inexpensive ways to save it.

Lighting in Post

Didn't quite match the lighting between your close ups and wide shots?

Was your lighting rushed and just not dramatic at all?

Did you shoot in front of a green/blue screen and now you need to match the lighting of the background?

Have no fear, digital post production is here!

On Jack vs Lanterns (still in production) because we used a lot of "out of town" talent and had some issues on set, like weather, flakey cast and no crew to speak of, lighting was often a bit rushed.  This is one of the places where my usual "I like to do things the old fashioned way" approach has to get tossed aside so that I can get the look I want.

More "Inside HFP" videos coming soon.

Radios on Set

Do you rely on cell phones to communicate on set?  I'm old school.  I still like to use radios when I can.  Here is why.

Shoots of Opportunity

If you were suddenly offered a space to film in, with little time to prepare (say 24-48 hours) and little time to use it ( another day or two), would you be able to make something happen on camera to take advantage of the freebie?

This type of thing, free or cheap locations, can happen.  They come around seasonally when businesses are slow, or if friends travel.  A prop, actor or some other thing you'd really like to work may suddenly present itself and you want to be ready.

I recently had this happen.  As filmmakers, most of us are ready on the "lights, camera" side of thing and we may even have the "action" down in terms of having a dozen script ideas sitting in a file or swimming around in our heads at any given time, but what else will we need?

Well, I found that having props on hand, having a knowledge of what could be bought cheaply and quickly, who I may or may not be able to work with locally (I need to work on this one more) and having a few basic costumes to choose from really helped pull it all together.

Here is a video about how this sort of came about.

The Return of Inside HFP

Over the past  year I've been Vlogging more than Blogging.
Rather than rewrite all of those here, I thought I'd start posting some of the videos as embeds.
They'll be coming pretty quickly since there's a bit of a backlog.

Quite a few deal with publishing to Amazon Video Direct.

I hope they're helpful.

For now, we'll start with  my mistakes.