How to make a Film for the Hundred Dollar Film Festival - Part 1

When the Hundred Dollar Film Festival first began, the idea was that you could make a film for under $100. Now, twenty-one years later, is that still possible? In this and later posts, I will to talk about how to make a film for the festival. As I wrote this post, it began to get very long, so I decided to break it up into several separate posts. In this post, I will look at what kind of film I will discuss.

As the deadline for the twenty-first festival looms, this may seem a bit late to talk about how to make a film. But, there is always the twenty-second festival.

What qualifies me to talk about this subject?

I’ve had eight films in the festival over the years, with films in both the first festival in 1992 and the twentieth in 2012. I also started the festival.

The Festival Rules

The festival rules have changed over the years and it doesn’t need to be constrained by the original intentions, but I hope that films made to the original limits will always be welcome at the festival.

When I first came up with the idea for the festival, the kind of filmmaker I aimed it at was someone who had just begun to make films. That was what I was back in 1991. Maybe they were someone who had never made a film, or who had only made a few small films. Their interest would be to learn and develop their skills, and, of course, to have an audience for their films.

I became aware of a different group of filmmakers who were interested in the festival. These were experienced people looking for a challenge, or a chance to have some fun when they made a film. I know that some looked at these films as a way to reinvigorate themselves after a frustrating project.

The challenge came in the constraints on how they could make the film. In the first festival, the cost was not the limitation, as implied by the name. Instead, we set a limit on how much film the filmmakers could use to make the film. The limits were five rolls of black and white, four rolls of colour, or three rolls of sound. With a shooting ratio of 3 to 5, the final films would be 2 ¼ to 5 minutes long.

Can It Still Be Done?

A lot has changed since 1992. Can you still make a film the way it was back then? I believe so, although not as cheaply. Super 8 is still available, and you can make films on 16mm in the same spirit as Super 8. I did that for my film Contingency for the 2012 festival.

I estimate that films made to the original rules would cost $300 to $550. You can still make a film for under $100, if you shot only one roll of film. Shipping the film to the lab and back can cost more than the film and developing!

There are some further limitations on the films now. Super 8 sound film isn’t available any more. If you want sound, you need to put it on a CD, or have live sound. With pre-recorded sound, you can’t guarantee sync. It is not as easy to get a 16mm film negative cut and printed these days, so you can’t do effects like dissolves or title overlays, unless you can do them in-camera.

In the next post, I will review how I made each of my films. In later posts, I will use my experience to provide advice on how to make a film for the Hundred Dollar Film Festival.

I know that I don’t know everything there is to know about how to make a film, so I would appreciate any comments that build on my suggestions.

This post is a mirror from my main blog http://www.dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/blog

Update on Three Science Fiction Stories

Pete’s Plan

I got some comments back from some people on this story. I rewrote it based on their comments. I incorporated some new ideas I had as I read it over. It is a bit longer at over 1,000 words now. I think it is better too.

I’ll read it over again next week, and submit it to another magazine. One magazine I came across wouldn’t consider a story under 1,000 words, so I can submit to them now.

Felix

Felix is a reimagining of a H. P. Lovecraft story set on Mars. I made some good progress and still have ideas popping up in my mind. It looks like it will turn out shorter than I thought it would though.

The final story won’t be anything like the story I based it on. I’m not 100 per cent sure if that is a good thing or not.

Heat Wave

I am about half way through the first draft. I haven’t worked on it for a while now. I’d like to blame it on the other projects I worked on, but there is another reason. I started with the ending and worked backward, and now the ending looks a little lame compared to the rest of the story. Maybe I’m overly concerned about that. I should finish it and get some one else’s opinion.

I do still have ideas for this story pop up periodically. Mostly it’s because I see parallels between the character’s situation and some of the experiences I had. Like many other people, I always think of good responses to what people say to me after it is too late. I think I can use those “I wish I’d said” moments to say what I wanted to. That would give me a quantum of solace.

This post is a mirror from my main blog http://www.dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/blog

Rejection, But Not Dejection

I submitted my short story Pete’s Plan to Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine a few weeks ago. This week they sent me a note to say, “it does not suit the needs of the magazine at this time”. I was disappointed, but people were supportive.

The magazine encouraged me to submit the story elsewhere. I plan to do that, but I am in procrastination mode. They didn't really say why they rejected it, so I wonder if I should try to rewrite it before I do. On the other hand, I don’t really know why they didn’t want it.

If you would like to give the story a read over and let me know what you think, I would appreciate it.

I think it is a good little story. Before I submitted it, I read some stories from a Best SF of the year anthology from a couple of years back. I found some good ones, but many of them were disappointing, so I felt mine would be acceptable. I wonder if it is too political for them.

This post is a mirror from my main blog http://www.dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/blog

“Some Days . . .” Update - 2012 November 4

I worked on my film “Some Days . . .” this week. I want to submit it for the 2013 Hundred Dollar Film Festival. http://100dollarfilmfestival.org/fest2013/

I originally did the film for last year’s festival, but I wasn’t happy with the image quality, so I withdrew it. I hope I get it right this time.

I took out a camera Tuesday, shot on Wednesday, returned the camera Thursday, and sent the film to the lab Friday. It usually takes about 2 weeks to get back.

I didn’t use up all of the film in my shoot, so I finished off the roll with some experimental shots. Maybe I can use them as a starting point for a new film for the 2014 festival.

The camera I used, a Canon 16mm Scoopic, came with a manual. I’ve used Scoopics for about 16 years and never saw a manual before. I picked up a few useful tidbits from it.

This post is a mirror from my main blog http://www.dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/blog

“Sharkbiter” and “Some Days . . .” Updates 2012 October 28

I wanted to do something more to promote my video Make ’ em Squirm: The Sharkbiter Way video. A couple months ago, I split it up into a dozen or so shorter segments and posted them on YouTube. That didn’t generate the kind of interest I had hoped for.

This week I decided to pull a small (18-second) clip out of it and post it on YouTube as a sort of promo: Billionaire Orville Sharkbiter's plan for election reform. My idea was that people are more likely to pass along a short clip. Then, I hope, some people would go to watch the full video. So far, I haven’t had a lot of response to it. I think I will need to promote it more.

I have started to wonder if my time would be better spent on a new project rather than promoting an old project.

I began work on my new film Some Days . . . for the $100 Film Festival. I made it originally for last year’s festival, but wasn’t happy with the image quality. I went over the materials I had prepared last year this week. Some of my plan notes had gone astray, so I had to recreate those. I also fixed problems with some of the images I want to use.

Some Days . . . is a very short film, so I won’t need the whole 100’ roll of 16 mm film to shoot it. I came up with some ideas for shots that I might be able to use in another film later. Unfortunately, since it snowed last week, and it isn’t likely to melt away any time soon, I can’t do those shots.

This post is a mirror from my main blog http://www.dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/blog

What Do I Work on Next?

Now that I have finished and posted the video version of Contingency, I’m at a bit of a loss as to what to do next. I’ve got many projects I want to finish. If you have some time, I would like to hear your opinion.

When I wrote my New Years Blog, I planned to do updates April 1, July 1, and October 1. I did one update in late March, but did nothing in July. I missed October 1, but now should do.

Some Days . . .

I tried to make Some Days . . . for last years $100 Film Festival, but wasn’t happy with how it turned out. I bought some new film and plan to redo it for next years Festival. The submission deadline is December 1, so I can’t dally over this one too long.

My Most Difficult Case

I should have finished this one and sent it off long ago. There are times when I almost feel afraid to touch it. It shouldn’t take much work, but since it has already taken so long, it is hard to think I am almost done. It seems like I have a million excuses to put it off until another time.

The Crying Lady

I’d written and published this as a short story. I wanted to turn it into a movie with Xtranormal. Partly this was to experiment with Xtranormal to see if I could use it as a tool to develop a project more before I made a real movie. I haven’t done anything on this, but I did something similar with my Make ‘Em Squirm video. Lately I’ve wondered if it would be better to use Then the Phone Rang for my experiment. I think it may be easier to do.

Bright Freedom

I wrote this as a script, but wasn’t happy with it. Over the summer, I converted the script into a novelette. I have a first draft done, but decided to leave it for a while before I do a second draft. I’ve come up with some ideas for the revision and I started to review what I have for revision. The story does need more research before I can finish it, but with a better second (or third) draft, it should be easier to get feedback from other people. The main character is a woman, and since I am not, I really feel I need to get a woman’s perspective on the character.

Heat Wave

This is an idea I had quite some time ago, but didn’t start on it until August. It is a science fiction story. I got about half of the first draft done. I did all the parts where I had clear ideas what I wanted to do. The rest of the story will be harder to do.

Felix

This is another science fiction story that I developed. I reimagined an H. P. Lovecraft story. I think its connection to Lovecraft may be quite obscure by the time I’m done. I wrote some notes, ideas and outlines, but I haven’t started to write the story itself. The end of the story has been a challenge to me. The one in the Lovecraft story doesn’t make much sense after the other changes I made.

The Gladstone Barrier

I wanted to turn one of my transportation planning stories into a novelette, or maybe even a novel. I’ve done some work on how to do that, but I don’t feel particularly inspired by the idea these days.

Web Magazine: The Journal of Transportation Fiction

I still want to do more on my transportation planning stories. The challenge is to come up with an approach that works. When I looked for a place to submit my science fiction story, Pete’s Plan, I came across some on-line science fiction magazines. I thought that might be a way to get some help with my transportation stories. I did get some people express interest in writing stories when I first promoted my stories, so I think it might work.

I find that if I work on too many projects at a time, I never get any done. I don’t like to put projects aside though. Some Days . . . has a clear deadline, so I think it needs to be my first priority. What else I should work on, I’m not sure.

This post is a mirror from my main blog http://www.dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/blog

“Contingency” Now On-line - Please Have a Look

I finally got my film Contingency posted on-line. Please have a look at it and let me know what you think.

I made Contingency for the twentieth $100 Film Festival in 2012. It is a contemplation of how the festival came about. The film won the Best of Alberta Award at the festival. It is a departure from my earlier films.

I put in on YouTube (at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79sPbUoD9zM ) and on my own website (at http://dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/filmlist/contingency/ ). I will post it on Vimeo later.

The film could be quite opaque to someone who isn’t familiar with my previous films. Since some people may be interested, I wrote an article that explains where each element came from, and why. You can read the article here: http://dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/filmlist/contingency/an-explanation-of-contingency/

This post is a mirror from my main blog http://www.dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/blog