Tag: film

The Movies That Inspired Me

Over the last 30 years, I’ve seen hundreds and hundreds of movies. So many, I can’t even remember them all. But within the last few years, some of them have had a major impact on me personally. These are the films I credit with my decision to pursue a career in film-making.

One of the first movies that influenced me was Logan. To be completely honest, I never got into the X-Men. Never cared for them. Never really understood them. Logan was a movie that forced me to look into the X-Men and what they were. And as a result, Magneto became one of my favorite villains in Marvel.

The way Logan was put together…written, filmed, the acting, it really did inspire me. The storytelling is some of the best I’ve seen. I loved every bit of that movie. To this day, Logan is still one of my Top 10 favorite movies of all-time, maybe even Top 5. I’ll still go back and watch it from time to time too.

The second movie that really influenced me was Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. The first one was great, and it was a nice addition to the MCU. The second one took a more emotional route, and I felt that was the right call. I loved the theme of it, and James Gunn is an absolute genius when it comes to making films that are both funny and heartfelt. While it did have fancy effects and cool sets, it also showed me that movies can be character driven. And when starting out with a low budget, you need characters to carry films.

The third movie I’ll talk about is Inception. While I didn’t understand the movie at first, I came to love it. The first time I saw it, I was very confused. I didn’t understand what was going on at all. Since then, I’ve come to love the movie. I’m super fascinated by the idea of controlling dreams, running missions in other people’s dreams, and just the idea that people got hired to implant ideas in other people’s heads. Inception solidified my love of Christopher Nolan movies, and as a result, he’s become my favorite film director.

If I’m being completely honest, Marvel has had a huge impact on my desire to make movies of my own. Everything they do is just so exciting and fun to watch, and that’s the stuff I want to do one day. I love the stories. I love the characters. And most of all, I love seeing these characters come to life. My ultimate goal is to make a Marvel movie one day. Will it happen? Probably not, but I can dream, can’t I?

I’m forever grateful for the films I’ve seen over the years, especially the ones that truly inspired me to take this path. Being a successful filmmaker is going to be tough, but I also don’t see success in dollar signs. If I make a movie, released it, and a couple of people see it, that’s success. I did what I set out to do. I made a film and released it.

But, as Saito, a character from Inception said, “Don’t you want to take a leap of faith? Or become an old man, filled with regret, waiting to die alone.” Eventually, I’ll have to take that leap of faith. I’ll have to jump into unknown territory for a chance at something more amazing. If I don’t, I’ll be stuck in the same spot forever. I have so many stories to tell, and I hope that one day, I can share them with the world.

New Year, New Set of Goals

Well, we made it! It’s officially 2022! What does that mean? Nothing really. It’s just another year when you look at it. But personally, there are some things I would really like to accomplish this year. What kinds of things? Well, they’re kind of all over the place to be honest.

First of all, I would like to put out two blog posts a month. That might not seem like a lot, but it is to someone like me. I find myself in the mood to write and then I procrastinate it over and over. By keeping to a two post a month schedule, I feel that I can actually get things done and post regular content.

Secondly, I’d like to read at least one book a month. For some that might seem easy. And it is. But like so many other things, I find it difficult to do. I find other things to do in its place. I’m currently reading one, but I’m not sure I’ll finish it by the end of January. That doesn’t mean I failed. If I can have 12 books finished by December 31, 2022, I will have accomplished my goal of reading one book per month. I would like to read more, but we’ll see how that goes.

Third, I’d like to finish the movie I’m writing. While it is technically done, I’m in the editing stage. How long will that take? Who knows. I’ll keep working on it until I feel it can’t be perfected anymore. Or until I think it’s good enough because otherwise, I’ll always be editing it. I also just came up with a few new ideas that I want to write in as well.

Fourth, I’d like to film my short film. Which one? Any of them. I entered Babylon into a few screenwriting contests in 2021 and I was waiting to see how that went before doing anything else with it. In the meantime, I’ve been working on another short film called Time Hunters. Time Hunters is actually a two-part series that I want to finish writing and film at some point. Who knows, maybe I’ll film Babylon and both Time Hunters 1 and Time Hunters 2 this year.

Finally, I’d like to improve my video editing skills. I know I’m a good video editor, but that doesn’t mean I can’t improve on it. There’s always room for improvement. I would also like to get familiar with After Effects. I’ve had it for years but never really used it.

2022 has potential to be a great year. I might not get everything done that I want to, but even if I get a few things done I’ll be happy. If I get none of them done, I’ll still be happy. At least I gave it an effort and in the end that’s all that really matters.

Babylon Filming: Week 2

This isn’t really week two. It’s more of an update really. I had started filming my short film Babylon over the summer. Things were going well with it. Then I hit probably the biggest problem I could have. I ran out of time and my actors went back to college. Filming has been put on hold until we can resume it, whenever that may be. Is this a bad thing? Not necessarily.

I can’t say that I’m mad or upset about it. Because of the break, I’ve had time to think about things regarding the film. There’s a couple changes I’d like to make to the film. Nothing drastic, and it won’t be a script change. Changes are more about how it’s filmed and how I direct the actors.

One of the best things to happen was this break. While my actors went back to school, I also went back to school. I’m currently taking a film directing class. The things I’m learning are so important. I would have directed this film incorrectly before. Now, I’m armed with knowledge and tricks to direct the film properly.

I’ve learned how to think about things I never thought of before. On top of that, I learned about how important it is to rehearse before you film. Rehearsals are such an important part of film making. I know there’s at least one scene in Babylon that we will have to rehearse over and over. If we mess it up while filming, there is no second chance. We have to get it right the first time.

I was also looking to get an actual video camera to use instead of my Nikon D3300 DSLR. I did get a new lens for it, but I think a video camera would be a much better option. I talked to one of my classmates and he recommended that I get the Blackmagic Pocket Camera. I was able to play around with one at the college a bit, and I think it would be a great addition to use in my video projects.

Even though I already filmed a few scenes for the film, I plan on re-shooting at least half of them with the Blackmagic Pocket Camera after I purchase it. I came up with an idea I want to test out. I’m not going to get into it in detail here because I don’t want to ruin the surprise. Once the film is done, I’ll make a blog post about everything I did in the film and the cinematic choices I made.

I know I may not be the best filmmaker, or have a lot of experience, but I know I have great ideas. I want to tell stories. By doing this project, I’ll be telling one of many stories I have floating around in my head. But that’s not the topic of discussion here.

This extra break has truly been something good. I don’t have much free time as is, and being able to put a pause on Babylon has allowed me to focus on work and my film directing class. If I was also working on Babylon, I think I would of burned myself out a long time ago. And if that happened, I wouldn’t be excited about returning to work on it.

Creative Struggles

A few weeks ago, I went on a small vacation. I wasn’t able to take a full vacation this year because of work. I was promoted to a full-time employee in May and I don’t get vacation time for at least 6 months. I do only work 4 10 hour days most of the time, so I was able to stack my days off to the end of the week so I could a least spend some time away. After everything with COVID and working a lot, a small break was nice.

I love my job. I really do. It isn’t too difficult and it’s pretty relaxed. Most of the people that come here don’t cause issues. While I do love what I do, I know I don’t want to do it forever. It’s a good job for now, and it’s really the only thing I’ve ever done. But in 10 years, I hope to be doing something else. Something different. I hope to be doing the job I truly want to have.

I want to create stories. I want to tell stories. I want to make movies. All of that is fun and all, but there are times where I hit a creative block. I get to a point in my story where I don’t know where to go next, even after plotting it out. I have some amazing story ideas…ideas that could turn into something. But sometimes I just don’t know where to go with them. And sometimes, I go one way with it and then change it when I go back to edit it.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that my biggest struggle is linking the beginning to the end while still keeping interest up. It’s so easy to just not care about characters, but I want to make sure that my characters are relatable. I want people to see themselves in my characters. If not that, then I want people to say, “I know someone like that.” Characters are the true stars of my stories. If I don’t have exciting or relatable characters, I feel like I’ve failed in telling my story.

I know I’ll get better at it the more I do it, I just wish I was better at it now. I know these things take time. I just get impatient at times. I think most people are like that in some aspect. They don’t want to spend the time working on a skill. They just want the perfected result. Funny thing is, a lot of times, the journey was way more exciting that just getting to the end.

Sometimes, I do wish I could fast forward. But I also know that if I did, I’d probably regret it. Watching Click taught me that lesson. Being almost 30 reinforced that lesson. As a kid, I couldn’t wait to grow up. Well, I grew up and sometimes, I wish I could just be a kid again. It’s been a long journey for me, and I know in the end, it’ll all be worth it.

Babylon Filming: Week 1

The first week of filming for my short film called Babylon has come to a close. We got several scenes done and a few I might decide to re-shoot later. I want to see how everything else goes first. I just have a few thoughts and observations about it that I’d like to share.

This is essentially the first film I’m directing. I had directed a skit that can be seen at this link (What the F!@# Am I Doing?). It was a small comedy sketch I came up with. It’s about two minutes long. I highly recommend it. Side note: I will be referring to “What the F!@# Am I Doing?” as WTFAID. It’s faster than typing the whole title out.

With Babylon things are different. I filmed WTFAID in a couple of hours. It was simple and there wasn’t too many complicated shots. I remember coming up with a few variations of shots on the spot, but nothing too crazy. I also remember filming WTFAID in order…from the start of the script, to the end of the script.

Babylon we are filming out of order. We are filming it by location. So for any scene that takes place in say a park, we’ll film all the scenes at the park at once. This proves to be easy and complicated at the same time. It’s easy because we don’t have to worry about it after we finish. It’s complicated because some scenes might be at the start of the film while others are towards the end.

For continuity, we need to look somewhat similar. I’m not expecting exactly the same. This is an extremely low budget film, but I want it to be close. That also means some characters change appearance as time goes on and it’s hard showing that without a makeup department.

Realistically, these are all minor issues and I don’t think most people will have an issue with them especially when they realize it’s a low budget film. My goal is to put out the best film I can with the resources I have. I know that when all is said and done, I will be proud of the film and what we did with it.

Directing it has been an absolute joy. Seeing my vision come to life is something I never dreamed of. Directing is also something I can see myself doing in the future as a career. It’s challenging, but fun and rewarding at the same time.

So, what’s next after we finish Babylon and release it? Well…I have another short film in the works. I’ve started writing it and hopefully we can do that one as well. I’m excited for the things I have planned and I plan on posting updates here when I can so everyone can follow this journey with me. This applies to Babylon and any other future projects as well.