Well for me this thing has always been film making.
Since I was a kid I loved the idea of making movies. I was totally into the art of filmmaking; miniature models, set design, animation, photography, developing stories, characters and worlds. I knew it was something I'd always like to do.
At four years old I pulled my red wagon around the neighborhood and picked up trash. Told my mom I wanted to be a garbage man. Then from seven to maybe twelve years I wanted to be a race car driver and a jet pilot, like every kid. I also wanted "to make Star Wars" or make art and create things like it. In my mid teens I maintained that desire but I heard the bit about "starving artists" and "only a few people in the entire world get to work on Star Wars and do such things." Like the chances were so remote I shouldn't even waste time dreaming of such a thing, but of course I did, like every kid.
So in my early 20's I found myself on a solid career path in product design. It was good. Then in 1995 the Sony Playstation came out. I knew right away that I needed to make video games. So I did. Seventeen years later and the professional video game industry has been amazing and distressing all at the same time. My last full time corporate video game job was as a lead artist on a Star Wars game.
Afterwards I decided it was time to develop my own projects and start making films. I lacked pretty much every resource I needed - a crew, good funding and good film equipment. But I did own a camera, had written stories and created my own worlds. I had also developed relevant skill sets with my years of experience in art, design and directing creative projects. I'd continued to practice photography since I was about 14 and during my years making video games I'd continued to study all facets of filmmaking. I still had the desire to make films. So I did.
In October of 2013 I started a Kickstarter campaign to see if I could raise $3000 to help me make a two minute short film. The funds would help me buy some basic equipment & materials and help fund the project for a few months of development, (most of that time spent on fabrication and post production). Forty of my friends and a dozen people I don't know kicked in with their support. We reached funding goal in ten days. I finished the short film on November 12th, 2013 and delivered it to my supporters.
This short film is loosely based on two character archetypes in a much bigger, much more expensive story I've written. For many reasons I needed to go ahead and produce this on my own. Therefore I needed to keep the premise very simple so I could finish the piece in a timely manner. Here's a one page storyboard I created based on the concept of "Two characters from rival factions engage in a firefight, one prevails".
I created all the character costumes and props, acted, self shot, edited, created vfx and sounds for this final piece on my own. My friend Otto Cate provided the awesome music that we needed. Physically producing this short alone, using an old GoPro Hero camera did not offer me the opportunity to get the style of cinematic look I would have gotten if I shot another actor. What it did do however was force me to find a way, and force me to work through every facet of production, from planning to post. I learned many things along the way that will serve to make my next films better.
It's never gonna be perfect, you rarely have everything you want or need. Just use what you have and go do it!
I present to you my very indie "Project GF" short film - Sniper versus Scout: on vimeo >>> http://vimeo.com/93150694
on Youtube vvv
***Also now on Vimeo for higher quality: http://vimeo.com/93150694
