60 second film school

 Actually, maybe even shorter than that depending on how quickly you read.

I took a drone shot I pictured being able to use as an establishing shot the other day.  It's slow decent from over main street down to the street sign.  Trouble is, I didn't have a specific project in mind when I shot it. I just used the available light, which was pretty lousy because it was an overcast day in spots, and grabbed the footage while I had the time and a Visual Observer to help me fly safely.

What I would up with was a pretty generic piece of footage.  So generic in fact it's possibilities are "endless".  Or, at least there are two or three ways it can be used.

Here is a video in which I decided to try to two of the ways out.  A happy, family T.V. show kind of shot.  The type that would be used during the opening of the show or to establish where they are after a commercial break.  And then, a decidedly darker shot.  Something suggesting horror or suspense.  The same shot, but with music and colors that will cause a sense of foreboding.

Watch for yourself and see what you think.

Pexels - A Great Free Resource !

 By now it's no secret that I love FREE resources.  In fact, I have begun to build my own set of free images and videos, including armored soldiers and laser blasts, for the indie sci-fi filmmakers among you.  You can find those resources on my YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/HocusFocusProductions or my
Facebook page: Indie Streams | Facebook

But, I want to let you know about a resource I have recently discovered.  I was searching for public domain images of maps last night on my go to resource, the Internet Archives.  The Prelinger Archives have supplied more than a few seconds of footage in my productions, including my recent short epic, "Space Chase".  This particular visit,  however, they did not have what I needed.  So I searched on.

My search brought me to Pexels.  This site is AMAZING.  It has a licensing set-up very similar to my own.  Simple, with attribution and/or tipping appreciated, but not required.  From what I have read, it seems everything that is free to download is free to use under that agreement.  If you need things which can be more fully immersed into your project and come on green screen or with more abstract backgrounds they have a paid sponsor, iStock.  Those clips seem to run about $60 each. Cheap for that quality, but probably pricey if your budget is chips and snacks like my often are.

That said, with a bit of searching and creativity, if you don't  have the budget for the $60 clips, you can probably make due with the images and videos available on the free site.  
You know my obsession with CG sci-fi corridors and hallways?  Well they've got live backgrounds that fit the bill. 

This hallway from a creator named Serinus is just fantastic.

To be honest, I haven't signed up because I hate having so many passwords and such floating around, but I may need to.  With a resource and creator list this size, I don't know how I'll keep track.  The suggested search terms are helpful in broadening or tightening what you're looking for and they even have images and video featuring people.

The one fear I do have is some of the images seem to be taken at parks and such.  Without release forms "in hand" you have to wonder if the artists aren't sometimes giving away rights they don't actually have.  I can tell you it's fine to use photos I've taken in my backyard or from a public street.  Photos of Mickey Mouse I shoot at Disney can be a bit more of a quagmire.  So, use the images with care and take the releases with a grain of salt, but overall, it's a great resource.

They even have EXPLOSIONS!  And I've gotten a lot of those free or affordably from Detonation Films, but it's nice to have more than the same options over and over again when you're doing space battles as often as I do.

And I don't want you to think they're only for sci-fi.  While they have a lot of resources for sci-fi artists, the database seems endless.  Whatever movie you're making, they should be among one of your first stops for free resources.

Here is a quick clip put together with visual elements entirely available for free from Pexles and my Indie Streams page.
The sound F/X are from Fresh Music Library  and a company called Network Music I purchased a collection from long ago.  

Have fun making films!

Does where you live affect what scares you?

 Going lazy today and reposting a link to someone else's blog, but putting it in the Indie Film Production blog, because I think it may be helpful for some of us.

It's no secret I'm more of a Monster Movie guy than a slasher type of scary movie fan.  That said, when I ask for permission to film a horror movie on someone's property or put out a call for extras, most people think Halloween or Friday the 13th and not Tremors.

Perhaps this list of the most   popular scary movies by state can help  you understand where you're working better and you can bone up on what the locals like.

Like, my movies would get a lot more fan service in Kansas or South Carolina than here in North Carolina.

Check it out for yourself:

Best Horror Movies: Which Does Each US State Love Most? - KillTheCableBill.com

And an image to make shares stand out a bit more.
Watch Jack vs Lanterns on Tubi TV!

When things start happening for your movie...three years later.

 I made Jack vs Lanterns, quite awhile ago.  Did a little independent release of it and didn't really make back the production costs.
Finally, I got up the courage to submit to the one distributor I thought would handle right, Wild Eye Releasing.  They needed some deliverables I didn't yet have and being already a few grand down on the project, I got to work on them myself.  I have two other jobs.  Might have been three at the time.
So, I got to work, slowly, getting the deliverables together.  They were a big help along the way as were Fresh Music Library and the gang from Movie Captioner

Like all distributors they promised me some promo copies of my very own.  Unlike many, they delivered.  Quickly.  And they're beautiful.

This is one of my favorites of my own movies because of the cast involved and because I had made a toy of the monster involved this movie from other action figures and Halloween decorations back when I was about 9 years old.  That's like...well it was last century at the very least, and the beasts in the movie, goofy as they may look, are the realization of a 9 year old's dreams and nightmares and Halloween spooky adventures.

And if you'd like to see the new trailer:

The Little Things

 Recently made another one day short, "Visitor's Day" and wrote in some scenes I wasn't quite sure how I would work out.  The big one was the prison scene.  Shot in a corner of my garage, I pictured it at a table, with the concrete block wall in the background.  Simple and easy, but I wanted a touch more of "something" to add to the prison feel.  I had hoped for a stock footage shot of a prison exterior to establish the location, but I don't have one in my library and couldn't find any public domain shots that were contemporary enough to work.

Finally, I settled on the idea of filming "through a fence" to five a caged look.  As if bars were offscreen.  On the day, however, exposures and lighting in a garage being what it is, I was having trouble getting the distance and shadows as I wanted them to register on screen.  They just weren't selling on my monitor and I wasn't convinced it would do enough in the finished product.  While setting it up with Actor, Jeffrey James and my wife, Nancy, we came up with the idea of having the gate "slide" open and closed.  We worked out the timing and I would put in a sound effect in post.  Nancy commented that we could use a sound like the one in the opening of "Porridge", a British comedy that takes place in a prison and uses the sound cue in the opening segment.  It was exactly what I had in mind, so I knew we were on the same page.

After a few tries, Jeffrey, Nancy and I got the timing to a point I was VERY happy with.  In post, it was just a matter of finding the right sound.  I didn't have anything marked "prison gate" or "jail cell door", but thanks to Fresh Music Library, I did have "metal work table rolls across floor".  It was just what I needed.  The final effect was exactly what I was hoping for and the picture I had in my head while coming up with the idea of transforming my garage into a prison visitor's room. (I should have put bars on the window, but some things slip by).  A scene coming together, even in a small way, is a big victory for a zero budget short and it often depends on people who roll with the punches and take in changes quickly. Some actors have trouble with this, and that's fine, but then I need them to just trust the process and do as directed.  When they see the end product they see where we were going.  The crew I had that day, however, helped me work out the kinks, which is even more helpful.

In the end, it's a very little thing and something most people won't consciously notice, but in the backs of their minds it's a touch that adds to the idea that this little corner of block wall is a room with bars, and guards, etc.

Finished product below.

Enjoy.

A-D-D and production

 A bit of constant distraction comes with being creative.  If you only see what everyone else sees, you'll never come up with new and exciting ideas.  But, this desire to explore new and old ideas alike can lead to some bad distractions too.  I've got a shoot planned for tomorrow.  It's already uncertain which movie I'll be shooting, because we're basing it on the weather.  Same cast, but different degrees of complexity.  The in studio is easy.  The outside stuff, not so much.  But it's a script I really want to get shot as it's a bit of a gift to my new, super reliable, up and coming actress, Felicia Mathis.  She started as a "scare actor" in haunted houses, helped me on a short and has been doing films with me every since.  She's just about ready for a feature.  But,  you can read more about that when I interview her for the Cult Goddess Blog.
For now, the thing is, she's been acting in sci-fi and monster movies for me and she's really more of a slasher, blood and guts horror fan.  So, I wrote a slasher type for her to star in and scheduling it, between life, her new job, real estate and photography and my studying for drone pilot certification has been really difficult.  But, we've got a schedule set for tomorrow afternoon.  If the weather is good.

Here is where my ADD comes in.  I'm super excited to shoot this.  But, I'm also supposed to be in it. (I'm  an understudy for a main character).  My garage is doubling as a set.  There is a scene featuring Dom and costumes to get ready.  Have I done any of these things?  Nope.  All the components are here, and mostly ready, but they need that last bit of dress and prep.  What did I do this week?

Sure.  That's fun, but I really need to get my firm old ass into gear.
Oh, and I am typing this while I should be helping Nancy paint the porch walls.

Want to know a secret?  This is me FOCUSED.
Less than five things to do at a given time and my brain goes into overdrive and I can't concentrate on anything.

So, don't let distractions scare you.  They're a good thing, sometimes and a thing to be overcome other times.  They're definitely bad when driving, flying a drone or working with sharp power tools.
When it's safe to be distracted, however, enjoy the creative directions it can bring you in and make new, or old, things happen.

Did I mention I've been making a miniature space station and painting an astronaut back pack all week too?

Here's a Felicia Mathis short to make your day.
Also featuring our friend, Merri Cash.

Carry a camera!

 This piece of advice is less important nowadays when nearly everyone has a fairly high quality camera (or even a 4K) in their pocket as part of their phone.  But nine or ten years ago when I visited NYC my phone camera was poop.  I used an HD pocket camera and grabbed shots of buildings as we drove out of town to  head "home" to Florida.

Years later I would be playing around with a shot of my Pie Tin UFO on Blue Screen and need a background.  I chose one of those shots (I recently organized old stock footage into a folder on my computers) as the  background and foreground for my sequence.

So, even though you may always have a camera with you, remember to use it.  Don't just shoot videos you think will be good on TikTok or Instagram today, but remember to shoot some photos of video clips you MAY want to use later.  Especially in places you may not be able to get back to easily and especially in PUBLIC places where the footage will be free for you to use.  Hold that phone horizontally so the shots will drop nicely into your movie projects and archive them someplace besides your phone or a cloud  you may not subscribe to next year.

This lifetime collection of shots is a great way to remember your travels and where  you've been, but as a digital media artist, they are also a part of  your ever expanding toolbox.  Pieces you can back to that will save you time, money and travel in the future.  Inspiration for future compositions.  Even if you only use old footage as a placeholder, I find it helpful in laying out shots and figuring out what I need from a new shot to make the composition work better.

Anyway, here is the 12 second video which inspired today's blog.  Layout of the layers and such is in the video description.

Gory Eyeball from a Dollar store Ping Pong Ball Eye

 I saw a post from Dead Glow Makeup, LLC about an eye the artist had made.  It had veins out the back and was shiny and goopy looking and just looked great.  I remembered I had bought a pack of 6 eyeballs for a dollar around Halloween with the intent of using them on puppets and monster masks (You can see them on a pumpkin monster in Jack vs Lanterns ) and thought trying to gore it up like Dead Glow's eye would be a neat project.  It was fun, but the results were hardly the same.  I'd suggest if you need an on screen eye, a display eye or one for a great costume, you for over the $15 and buy one of theirs.  (Seriously, follow the link above to see the photos.)

But, if you've got more time than money, need some more "disposable" goopy eyes and like to craft stuff, maybe make a few of these as well.

Also came across someone else's project on a DIY light up creepy eyeball jar that uses the same eyes.
I think added our gore strips to her project would really dress it up a bit.

Flying paper spaceship!

 So, for no reason at all, I started gluing together space ships made from index cards I had laying around.  It seemed like a harmless enough, free way to pass the time, but then I needed paint, some new brushes and now I'm going to need more movies set in space in which to use my ships, which means more aliens, monsters, puppets, stop motion, miniature sets, etc, etc.

So much for free.

Anyway, I started trying some shots of the one ship suspended from fishing line.  It didn't have an anchor point built into the design, so it was front heavy.  Made for a kind of cool stance when flying at the camera, but, it also made it "spin" a bit or sway from side to side.  I decided to use some post animation and make use of those turns and the effect is a very 1960s, moved by string, look, which I love.

I know a lot of filmmakers shoot for ultra realism in their finished product, but unless I'm shooting dead serious drama, which I rarely am, I prefer the unworldly, dreamlike quality of old F/X.  I think part of creating a fantasy world is letting the audience in on the fact that it's all make believe with the subtle hints of "not quite right" F/X.  Total immersion when telling a serious story is great, but a touch of, "hey, we're playing heroes" when telling a fantasy adventure story is an invitation for the audience to relax and enjoy the fun.  

Anyway, here's how I did it.

Let me know in the comments if you'd like a video on how to make simple shape space ships like these.
Coming next, how to make a gory eyeball from a dollar store ping pong ball eye.

Also check out Indie Streams on Facebook for free footage you can use in your own space operas.

Quick look at cheap lights.

 Saw a light at Dollar Tree.  It's a little LED, but pretty bright and it reads as "white" on camera.  The demo shots of my face aren't the best because the exposure was set when I wasn't in the shot.  I could have opened it up a bit more, but you can see from six feet away that it does cast light and in a fairly small, controlled area.  I think as a practical light within a shot, it's a handy tool to have.

For someone like me who works with miniatures quite often, it's going to be even more useful.  I am probably picking up at least one more.  Small lights making lighting set ups for miniatures very intuitive as everything is "to scale".

Anyway, here is a video on it.  Check out the skeleton at the end.  You can see through his rib cage pretty cleanly on the blue screen matte and shot on a 15 year old Sanyo Xacti.

DIY "no digital" Flying Saucer

It's been awhile.  If you've been following me on Facebook, you know last year I wanted to shoot 20 shorts.  I think I got 4 done, plus six episodes of This is Space Force.  So, halfway there?  I actually wasn't going to count individual episodes, but that makes it really sad.

I also have one in editing.  We kicked off this year with "Legacy of an Invisible Man" and have three more shorts written, cast, costumed and with locations ready.  We shoot one this Saturday and the other two are waiting on schedules.  My newest actress, Felcia Mathis, has been a huge help in getting me back on track.  We've done 5 shorts together already since November of 2020.  That averages to about one a month.  What indie filmmaker could ask for more?

But, do the instructional you're here for! 

While doing F/X for a friend of mine I realized that my assumption that every piece of video editing software and app could do basic matting was wrong.  I sent him footage of a ship on black and he had no way to drop it into his prerecorded backgrounds.  This simple set up will show you how to do it with just a model, fishing line, some background footage and a TV.  Think of it as old school rear screen projection.  My buddy and I used this back on Super 8 and VHS back in the 80s and 90s to make models (and in one case, the drawing of a spaceship I Scotch taped to my parent's television, fly.

And below is the first movie I shot with Felcia Mathis and friends.

So, would you guys rather instructionals go here or diary updates?  Both as I have been doing?
Follow me on YouTube for immediate video uploads. 
I only get on here every so often, as you can see, but I am working on that.

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