Highlights:

1) Storyboarding Workshop: This was cool. I've always loved the way good comics frame up a shot, and this workshop didn't disappoint. It was led by the amazing Leo Partible, and he talked about films that relied heavily on storyboarding. He shared examples from Sin City, with a beautifully composed scene every few frames. He suggested filmmakers watch silent film, such as The Passion of Joan of Arc, to see how they use images to tell a story, rather than alot of dialogue.

2) Sunscreen Student Short Film block: Woohoo! This was fun. There were alot more people in the theater than I expected for the screening. Even though they were the most busy people at the festival, both of the founders of Sunscreen, Tony Armer and Derek Minor, showed up to watch. Also, our film instructor, Professor Dave DeBorde from Southeastern was on hand, and plenty of friends. The Perfect Guy was the first film shown. Our team of Devon and Evan, and screenwriter Cassidy, were all on hand. We got a good applause. Next was Tripped, a funny setting with plenty of improv dialogue from Dave DeBorde. I liked The Heist, that my friend Evan worked on, and the second film from the fall course was The Chip. Actor Christoff Marse starred in it, and in the last two as well. Rolls was a short romantic comedy that I helped by working the slate and the camera dolly. And finally was a film my dad directed called Dark Night in Sunshine City. Although they had some crazy challenges I'll talk about another time, his film had the most complex storyline and many rich, colorful shots. (if anyone has links for the other films, email me)

After the films were screened all of the teams were called up for Q&A. I shared with the audience the lessons I learned on the film, and how we had to pull some 'movie magic' to get driving shots without a DL, and bedroom shots without a bedroom or even a bed. It was really exciting, and I look forward to submitting several films next year.

In the first photo below, I'm thinking about what I will say when the mic gets down to me, and my dad, in the Hawaiian shirt, is flanked by his producer, Dennis Barron, and cinematographer, Sam Der. In the second photo I'm grabbing a moment with director Dave DeBorde, who I worked with on the comedy pilot Spinners.

Finally, here's a cut of The Perfect Guy:

4) A Career in Film workshop: One of the last workshops of the event was by Phil Cooke, a ball of energy, experience, and wisdom. Phil led the audience through a plan to focus their careers for success in film. He talked about keeping your eye on your long term goal, branding yourself, building relationships with others, and much more. Some of his personal stories included 6 months filming a documentary up the Amazon, with no cell phones or email, falling out of a helicopter while shooting a concert aerial shot, and getting shot at and his crew arrested in Asia. Phil has written several books, screenplays, directed films, and does many speaking engagements across the country. He is a 'connector' of people, and a good guy to know.

5) Wrapping up: By Sunday evening I was full. I had seen and heard so much, and was ready for a night when I could get to sleep before midnight. Unfortunately, there were plenty of speakers, workshops, and films that I didn't get a chance to see because of conflicts. Here's a few I missed, but heard good things about: workshop and concert by Michael Tolcher, composer for One Tree Hill and Scrubs; a staged screenplay reading and musical performance for Lullaby, by writer/director/producer Kimberly Wetherell; screening of the winning "Best Feature Film" at Sunscreen, Prime of your Life, which looks terrific from the YouTube trailer. On the way out, I did get a chance to check out FilmRally's new production software tools, and snap a pic with one of my favorite local peeps, Paul Wilson. I worked with Paul on the set of Spinners, and you could not meet a nicer guy anywhere in town. Well, that's all from Sunscreen; till next year, "Roll film!".

All of the daily blog posts and photos from Sunscreen Film Festival 2010.

Labels: filmmaking, indie film, sunscreen

Highlights:

1) Producers Panel: Film and Comics:

Leo Partible, Dean Batali, and Ralph Winters discussed how comics and graphic novels have become a big source of Hollywood films. If it's a film has comic book roots, Leo knows about it. He's an encyclopedia on the subject, and a screenwriter and director himself. (His brother Van created the Johnny Bravo show as well) Ralph had some interesting stories to tell about the challenges of turning X-men and Fantastic Four into film. Dean shared how blessed he feels pulling into the studio lot, and remembered how it felt like a dream when he started his career and was standing on Gilligan's Island after seeing the show growing up.

2) Actors Panel Q & A: The actors panel was awesome. The actors are in the photo below, left to right: Solomon Trimble, Patrick Wilson, Ayanna Berkshire, Alexa Vega, and Ethan Suplee. Alexa talked about how difficult it can be working on complete green screen, as she had to do for Spy Kids movies. Patrick stressed that actors shouldn't try to play the part 'big or small' depending on whether it is a stage or film, but should try to connect with the others in the scene and focus on what the situation is. Ayanna told an incredible story of how crazy the auditioning process can be, and how flexible an actor must be to do well in them.

3) Barry Munday premiere and other great films: The theater was packed to view the premiere of Patrick Wilson's new film. It was very funny, and there were many laugh out loud moments throughout it. After the film, Patrick answered questions about the making of the film. He said he likes stories with a big character arc, and in this one Barry goes from being a real doofus to handling his responsibilities as a man. The cast is good, including Billy Dee Williams, Cybil Shepard, Malcolm McDowell, and Chloe Sevigny. I don't know how we managed it with the full day, but I was also able to check out 3 award winning films during the day, including the beautifully animated Sebastian's Voodoo, touching Jesusito de me Vida, and quality gangster film Charlie Valentine. All of those have won multiple awards around the nation/world, and you can see their trailers by clicking on the links.

4) Sunscreen Awards Ceremony: Everyone was dressed up sharp for the awards ceremony, and gave a big applause when John Travolta came out to present the award for Best Florida Film. I mentioned three of the awards already, but was pleased to find out Saturday that the best documentary went to a gentleman I had talked to in the halls. He spent two years in India, living with a man who had lost his legs, his friends, his way of life, but found hope and strength through the love of his wife. The awards didn't take too long, and then the party started. I was surprised when the stage was cleared and instruments brought in, and the theater started rocking to the sounds of Van Halen. All three Wilson brothers played in the band, including actors Patrick and Paul Wilson, and their brother Mark who is a top newscaster for the local Fox tv station. I'm amazed they can have such successful careers in different parts of the country, and still deliver a tight set of rock music together. It was a fun night.

All of the daily blog posts and photos from Sunscreen Film Festival 2010.

Labels: filmmaking, indie film, sunscreen

Highlights:

1) Talking with Ralph Winter, producer of all of the X-Men, Wolverine, and many many others. What he had to say about a practical joke pulled on him during the filming of Fantastic Four made me realize that it's not always business. I also loved the extra stuntmen rehearsal footage from Wolverine. I'm glad I got to meet him.

2) Indie Movie Production 201 workshop with Sean Covell and Chris "Doc" Wyatt, producers of Napoleon Dynamite. In this workshop they focused on pitching a movie deal, and how much each person gets paid, between the producer, writer, director, etc. They talked about the kinds of investors you want, and the kind you DON'T want, like an investor that insists he star in your movie. The best part about this workshop is that Sean and Doc stayed over an hour after the time they were supposed to leave, answering question after question about the film business. It really showed they cared about helping the other filmmakers in the audience.

3) Acting workshop: My buddies Topher and Tiffany do a cold reading of a scene and get critiqued by Bill Cobbs. It was cool to see how Bill would suggest actors replay the scene with some new change he would put in, and they almost always did it better after he got them focused on the right things, like 'feeling' the emotion and not trying to 'show' us the emotion in fake ways.

4) Networking:
Me with local director Richard Stefanik at the film makers party at Cafe Alma. It was good to see so many people come together after such a full day. Richard took part in the Pitchfest portion of the festival, where filmmakers can pitch their movie ideas to movie producers, and he did well. Go Richard!

All of the daily blog posts and photos from Sunscreen Film Festival 2010.

Labels: filmmaking, indie film, sunscreen

Highlights:

1) Acting workshop with Alexa Vega (Spy Kids 1-3, Twister, Little Giants) and Ethan Suplee (Remember the Titans, My Name is Earl, Boy Meets World). They both had very different approaches to acting, and gave the participants plenty of examples of how they handled acting challenges. Between them they have over 100 film and tv credits. Alexa shared from her 16 years of experience, and really puts alot of effort into her preparation for an audition or reading. She prefers a director that gives her feedback on her performance, so that she knows if she's on target or not. Ethan spoke about the importance of a director having a clear vision for the project.

Alexa also spent alot of time talking about balancing school and acting, which I could relate to. They were both very real and friendly. Alexa is a bundle of energy. She told a hilarious story about how she got a nickname in high school that I shouldn't print here, but it involved a pep rally, jousting, a wardrobe malfunction, and being covered in cheese. It was innocent, and obviously embarassing at the time, but it was great to hear them both open up with life stories.

Fav quote from Ethan about taking a few minutes to prep for a 'cold reading' at an audition: "It's supposed to be cold, but not ICE cold. Warm it up a little."

Quote from Alexa: "American movie goers ultimately decide what movies are coming out of Hollywood. Hollywood will produce, generally, the kinds of movies audiences will pay to go see."

2) Indie Movie Production 101 workshop with Sean Covell and Chris "Doc" Wyatt, producers of Napoleon Dynamite. Lots of notes from this workshop, and lots of laughs from the duo. Getting a film distributed is a business, and you better know what you are doing. Sean and Doc shared from their experiences with Napoleon Dynamite, and stressed that indie filmmakers have to be creative on the business side just as much as on the artistic side.

3) Screenwriting workshop with Dean Batali (That 70's Show, Buffy the Vampire Slayer). Dean was very funny, and a firehose of tips. He shared one his credos, "Differently, say it," and stressed finding new and interesting ways to write a scene. He spoke about the importance of having clean, easy to read scripts, and he even did a live critique of three script excerpts from the audience.

4) Films! There were films showing all day of course. I was able to catch the feature film Sneakers and Soul, and talk with the cast and crew afterwards. The visuals were very nice through the whole film, and I'll probably purchase the soundtrack once it becomes available. I saw two blocks of short films today. I really enjoyed the stylish presentation of Altar, who is so disconnected from reality that he interrupts his own voiceovers. My favorite of the day, for the start to finish quality production, tight story, fine acting, and entertainment value, was Soulmates.

5) Networking: The party at Nova nightclub was a great place to spend time getting to know the actors and producers better. I was able to sit with Billy Dee Williams (Star Wars) for awhile, and listen to his thoughts on creating the Lando character. He also had plenty to say about the special relationship between fathers and sons, and talked about the impact of writing letters to his father, and the amount of hard work and dedication that fathers put in so their kids can pursue their dreams. Bill Cobbs was the nicest guy you could meet. He would look me in the eye and give some serious advice, such as "You don't have to be in Los Angelos or New York. You are the ARTIST! Do what you do, and don't worry about where you live." He would also tease with things like "Nick, don't let those basketball coaches get to ya! Keep making films." Finally, I had a great talk with Sean Covell about focusing on directing over other film crew roles, and found we were both interested in slipping out between workshops tomorrow to catch the new film "Kick-Ass". Sean is like a little kid when you start talking about the excitement of indie films and finding great new stories or directors. He really loves what he's doing.

All of the daily blog posts and photos from Sunscreen Film Festival 2010.

Labels: filmmaking, indie film, sunscreen

All of the daily blog posts and photos from Sunscreen Film Festival 2010.

Labels: filmmaking, indie film, sunscreen