Popcorn and an Indie Film...

What do I write here?  

I’ve seen VOC up on the big screen.  I’d say I’m speechless, but that was on Saturday and now it’s Monday and I think I am still a little stunned.  You know it is one thing to watch dailies, see rough cuts of the movie on your computer.  Or if you are lucky, to see it projected on a 18’ screen.  

But to walk into a theater, sit down and hear the haunting opening as composed by Mr. Buddy Wayne Goettsch is a whole other thing.  I almost missed seeing Paul Celestin’s name three feet tall staring me down in the middle seats.  And to see Ms. Amanda Maul’s reveal is priceless.  There they are up on the big screen.  I think I teased Buddy about having two foot tall eyebrows…  Well you will have to see for yourself.

So where are we…yep, I’m getting that a lot.  And Paul is too, but he’s busy tinkering and polishing.  This week is very busy for VOC and the production team.  I’d like to say thanks, in advance, for all of their hard work and that they are all keeping their cell phones on 24/7. 

When are we going to see it?  Well… We will be making an official announcement this week.

So… if I had them in my hands (and I’m not saying I don’t), who would want a free ticket to see VOC in the theater?  Leave a comment below and watch for responses.

-Mike

#vocfilm  

The Movie is over...wait, what?

Oh looky...credits...from like a real movie.

Okay…I get it, as if the angry emails and random texts/tweets wasn’t enough.

Yes we teased you.  (Sorry...about that.)

We showed you pretty pictures and told you interesting stories.  But the demands for a movie or blood is a little excessive don’t you think? 

And Yes….Steve I’m looking at you too.

So what’s been happening since last we chatted?

Well I could give you the short answer and say “post production or editing” but I don’t think that will suffice.  Victims of Circumstance has been developing from its pieces.  We have seen a couple of passes with all of the video put together and that’s pretty cool to see because you start to see the story coming together.  Meeting Devin, Caitlyn, Charlie, Carter, and Doc in the context of a film is awesome.  Of course I know how the movie ends, I know all of the plot twists and turns so I wasn’t surprised when I watched the film from beginning to end.  After this stage, the film gets its score or musical layer.  I have always been a sucker for music in movies.  A great score will keep you on the edge of your seat when you should be scared, or reassure you that everything is going to be okay when all seems lost.

If watching the assembled video is like watching a baby crawl... You can see where it is going and pretty much how it is going to get there.   Then watching the film with a score is like watching a ballet.  The story doesn't change; the video doesn't change, but so much more is communicated through and accented by the music.  Tone and pacing become much clearer, scenes blend together, emotional engagement goes up.  Before you know it, the credits are rolling and you find yourself wondering how an hour and a half just flew by.  That’s where we are at right now.  This week in fact, the producers are sitting down to watch (what is pretty much) a final cut of the movie with score.  The only thing that is missing is Foley work.  That’s “sound special effects”, for those of you who had to look it up.  

*You know, the breaking of celery standing in for the snapping of a neck.*

It’s at this point that I would like to thank everyone who has been involved or supported our project!

And many thanks to the talented musical artists who have lent their voices and skills to making the soundtrack rock!

Mike

#vocfilm

Who is...Sarah Moore?

Sarah Moore has a set of Eyes that are a filmmaker's dream. I've yet to enounter an actress who can throw so many emotions as quickly or as intensely as she can, all without saying a single word.

Captivating. That's the best word I can use.

I've known Sarah for a number of years now and for a host of reasons she was my first choice to take on the role of Caitlyn. When the film eventually drops she is going to take you on a roller-coaster ride of highs, lows and everything in between. Trust me on that.

Many of you know Sarah from her other theatrical/web adventures, but for those of you have yet to have the pleasure, allow me to introduce you to the First Lady of VOC.

Paul: How long have you been involved in performance art?

Sarah: I did my first play when I was in second grade and started singing shortly after. I was heavily involved with it in high school and went on to get my B.F.A. in Theater with an acting emphasis from Millikin University in 2003.

Paul: You write, direct, produce and choreograph. If you had to pick just one...

Sarah: Of those? I'd rather write. But honestly, I'd rather act.

Paul: You're Mom to two adorable kids. How do you find the time to pursue your projects?

Sarah: I don't sleep. It involves a lot of late nights, copious amounts of coffee, and stolen accidental naps during the day when they are at school. Also, my house doesn't get cleaned as often as I would like.

Paul: As a writer, do you create on a schedule or do you wait until inspiration strikes?

Sarah: I'd love to wait until inspiration strikes, but I've had to keep myself to a schedule. I try to write something every single day. I also try to make myself accountable to another person to keep me motivated. I set a table read or a production meeting that requires a finished script so that I stay on the ball.

Paul: What was your favorite aspect of working on VOC?

Sarah: I loved that all I had to do was show up and say my lines. It was a refreshing change. For Gamer Chick I am writing, producing, costuming, acting and a million other things. For VOC I just played one character. One hat on my head. That was nice. It let me focus.

Paul: Professionally, where are you hoping to be in 5 years?

Sarah: I just want to still be creating.

Paul: Last question, and now it gets tough: You can have one dessert...just one...for the rest of your life. What is it?

Sarah: This is a completely unfair question. Desserts are very important to me. I'm going to go with cupcakes. They come in so many different forms and they are adorable.

-paul

Spotlight On: Jeff Moore, DP Victims of Circumstance

I first met Jeff Moore in highschool, some 19 years ago. We shared a passion for storytelling and spent hours upon hours developing various theoretical projects and discussing the movie we would someday make.

It seemed only fitting, then, that VOC was birthed through similar conversations with the man. Back when I decided that I wanted to start production on a web-project, Jeff was the first person I contacted. In the early stages, VOC was to be a throw-away endeavor; something quick and easy I could cut my teeth on. As time went on, the story (and my passion for it) grew exponentially and it became the film you are all soon to experience.

Early on I knew that I was asking a lot of Jeff as DP: take a movie that is exposition heavy and make it look interesting. He was more than up to the task and his work on the project still amazes me.

All that being said, I now invite you to take a few moments and get to know the man behind the camera.

Paul: We’ve known each other for a long, long time, sir. What’s your most interesting memory of us from back in the day?

JM: Wow… That’s an amazingly tough question. We spent our high school theatre days – which suddenly seem like a terribly long time ago – causing various kinds of innocent trouble. If I could narrow it down to one thing, it would be an incredible feat. Let’s just let it be known that there are plenty of good times behind as well as ahead.

Paul: What made you decide that Film (be it web series, shorts, features, etc) is what you wanted to pursue?

JM: My wife and I started a live theatre company when she was fresh out of college, and we did that for a while. As time went by, we discovered that the particular challenges of that type of production were becoming obstacles to our goals that were not worth pursuing – both financially and creatively. I had a bit of experience with the film process, and the idea of the web series was just startingto become a “thing.” Since we also had some experience with podcasting, we transitioned to video for the web and found it – and its own unique challenges – to be exactly what we wanted to tackle next. It’s a comfortable discipline for me to work in, and I have a great deal of interest in working and learning. It just made a lot of sense.

Paul: You’re a whiz when it comes to Post Production effects. What scene (in any project) are you most proud of?

JM: I’ve got a pretty elaborate composite that I’m working on for Gamer Chick that includes multiple greenscreen[sic] and CGplates. I expect that to be pretty great when it comes together. If you want one I’ve already finished, I visualized, directed, shot and completed work for a pretty neat comp for season one of Gamer Chick. It involves a single character playing all the villains in a shot, and the timing of the whole thing worked out much better than I had expected.

Paul: What made you decide to sign on as the DP of VOC?

JM: I had been working on a project that my company is producing. As a creative partner and the only technical artist currently working on it, I end up doing many, many jobs; it’s very time-consuming, and can be exhausting. When the opportunity came up to do a single job on a project, I jumped at it. I still ended up lending some equipment and my varying levels of expertise on a few other subjects, but I really only had the one job. That was a nice feeling.

Paul: What was your biggest challenge during this production?

JM: My biggest challenge during the production of VOC was to continually find ways to use the camera as a tool to heighten the on-screen action. The show has a lot of dialogue-heavy scenes,so I really had to push myself to keep finding new angles and new moves to amplify their mood.

Paul: The movie is being edited as I type. Regarding your camera work, is there one scene in particular that you are most proud of?

JM: I honestly couldn’t pick one. There are always going to be things that you feel like you could have done better or differently or whatever, but I feel like my work was consistent from start to finish on this show. That was actually something I was fairly proud of, now that I’m thinking about it – maintaining a consistent look with minimal gear in various interior and exterior locations over the course of close to a year.

Paul: You’re given a multi-million dollar budget. Whatproject would you green light?

JM: I’ve got a feature script in the early stages that I’d love to make one day. I think a multi-million dollar budget would enable me to finish the first draft.

Who is...Chris Neumann?

Take a long, hard look at the picture above. VOC currently rests almost squarely on this gentleman's shoulders.

Chris Neumann is a monster in the Chicago/NWI indie film scene. He's a writer, director, DP, musician and (thankfully for me) one of the best Editors in the business. As I type he is no doubt enjoying a drink and laboring furiously to get the final cut of our movie finished on-schedule. I thought it only fitting to take moment to introduce you the man behind the curtain.

Chris and I talk almost daily but it was just last week that we sat down for some fish-and-chips (fries, technically), had a drink and conducted the interview below. Enoy...

How old are you, sir?

24

Where did you go to school?
Lake Central for high school. Purdue Cal for my Bachelors (visual communications and graphic arts with a minor in Philosophy) and my Masters (media design) at Full Sail University.

How long have you been working in film?

I started years and years ago in graphic art. I was in a band and we wanted videos and flyers and figured it’d be better if we learned to do it ourselves. So I did, and after that I fell in love with multimedia design and production.

When it comes to film, you’re definitely a jack of all trades. What aspect of production do you have the most fun with?

What I enjoy depends on the project, but I really love working on the music and the scoring and being a DP (director of photography). DP is great because you get to add so much creativity to each shot or angle, really narrowing down what people get to experience.

Of everything you’ve done, what project are you the most proud of?

A really short film that not many people have ever seen. I worked on a project called “Instantaneous Haze”. It was great because those who did see it had no clue how it was made.

You gotta give me some details here.

People that saw it insisted we used special effects, but we didn’t.

Nice.
It was an indirect way of crediting people’s talents that we didn’t need effects.

You realize now I need to see this thing.
I was just going through my hard-drives the other day and found it so I could show Brandon [Berk].

When faced with an obstacle (while working on a project) is your initial reaction “Oh Crap” or “I think I can do this”?

My initial reaction is to go outside and have a smoke. Or go inside, pending on where I am. Basically I try to physically get as far away from the project as possible so I can re-assess the situation. Then for inspiration I think back to all of the other times I was working on a project and one of us found a way around a difficult task at hand.

Mining on past experience?
Yeah…something like that.

So all that being said, how many cigarettes have you had thanks to VOC?
Today? 3. (laughs)

Has it made you have to walk away yet?

No, it hasn’t been crazily problematic.

What made you agree to sign on as the VOC editor?
Brandon [Berk]* talked highly of the film. And when I read the script I enjoyed the plot.

(*amongst other things, plays Hantover in the movie)

What are your hopes for this movie?

To be able to see it in a theater while drinking a gin and tonic.

Last time we shared a drink you were very indecisive on your poison of choice. Do you have a favorite gin?
London Dry. I got it once because the bottle had this little bowler hat that was on the cap, which was the only reason I got it as I ended up using the hat in a stop-motion project I was working on.

If you had a multi-million dollar budget, what would you work on?
I’m writing this dystopian sci-fi piece that would ideally star Joseph Gordon Levitt and Shatner…or this other older fellow who I thought of after Shatner, but no one in film would know who he is so let’s just say Shatner. Yeah, that or I’d love to work on the music for the next psychedelic Legend of Zelda game because of my love for Majora’s Mask.

Three questions left, and now they get real. Boobs or Butt?

Live or on film?

Coffee or tea?
Depends on who I’m with and what I’m doing.

You are so insanely vague!

Such is life.

If you could be forever remembered for a single statement it’d be…

If you’re not getting ahead in life, you’re falling behind.

-paul

Behind the scenes

Since the birth of this blog Mike and I have done our best to sing the praises of the folks who have helped (or are helping) to bring VOC to life. There are a few more Spotlight posts coming soon enough, but today I wanted to take a second to thank a very special collection of individuals who helped keep everything together behind the scenes.

Dowald "Joseph" Eco

Boom Operator

Joe and I were introduced virtually through mutual friends and he took a serious interest in the VOC project. He was interested in scoping out the set and as luck would have it I was very much in need of a boom operator for a key scene. Never one to ignore the alignment of stars, I made the call and Joe jumped on board. He was great to work with especially considering he had no prior experience. Rumor has it we're upgrading him to an on-screen role for the sequel!

John Albright

Boom Operator, Production Assistant, Securer of Locations

I really can't say enough about Johnny A! I've known the man for almost 20 years and he is sincerely a jack of all trades. For VOC he wore quite a few hats on-set but in my opinion his single greatest contribution was securing the room that would serve as Caitlyn's office for most of the film. John is always a blast to work with and as I review footage I still get the giggles when his booming baritone announces "Victim of Circumstance, Scene 1, Shot 2".

Erik Nelson

Boom Operator

Nelson has been one of my best friends for quite some time. What he lacked in on-set experience he more than made up for with his knowledge of AV Equipment, Recording Theory and Pick Up Lines that would make a nun melt. I was thrilled that he was willing to jump on board with this production and look forward to using him on-screen in the near future.

Matt Winecke

Graphic Artist/Logo Design

Matt got his own blurb here awhile ago but not a day goes by that I'm not thankful for the spectacular work he did designing the VOC logo...so I had to include him here just because.

Brandon Berk

"Hantover"/Boom Operator/Cool-guy-to-have-around

From now until the end of time I will be thankful to VOC for birthing my introduction to Brandon Berk. The guy is a force of nature in the indie world. His resume is too long to list but here's all you really need to know: Nobody is more dedicated than Brandon. He was a blast to have on camera, a whiz behind the scenes and never complained once when I spiked his coffee with hot sauce. I mean, really, what more could you ask for?

Kristel Pischner

"Tara"/Script Supervisor/Purveyor of Awesomeness

Kristel is one of the coolest people I know, hands down. Back when VOC was little more than a collection of ideas rattling around my brain, Kris was there to help me make sense of it all. She served as Script Supervisor, Story Consultant and plays the role of Tara on-screen. Her biggest contribution to the project, however, is that she has an amazing way of keeping me grounded, on-task and "out of the crazy". Because of her presence, no actors were seriously injured during this production.

There are a lot of other folks that we need to thank but this group really earned a special place in my heart. Without them, none of this would be possible.

So, just to make it official, to Joe, John, Nelson, Matt, Brandon and Kris: 

THANK YOU. 

It meant the world to me.

-paul

The Reel Deal...Insider's Info.

Hey there gang!

Okay so I guess we owe you an apology because we got everyone reading the blog and then stopped adding content out of the blue (holidays, movie trailer, contract negotiations, our real jobs, cars breaking down, life...oh did I mention life?).

So...very sorry to all you faithful readers.  Paul, Daniel, and Buddy collapsed after giving birth to the teaser trailer.  I hope you've had the chance to check it out here.

The incomparable Chris Neumann is editing like a mad man.  I'm sure Paul has his eyes set for a follow up trailer...just as soon as he figures out what insane part of the his brain he wants to apply to it.

Also, we have cleverly tricked you into going to our Youtube site (see above)...we didn't put it out there without planning on using it.  There will be some things dropping on that channel that we may or may not notify you about them on the blog.

Also, you'll be seeing some changes to the website as we get closer to the film launch.  We have a talented guy helping us out (and patiently waiting for more content) named Joe Vanerio.

So I wanted to take a second this morning and say...

First sorry.

Second, Paul and I do read every comment, email, tweet, smoke signal, and carrier pigeon message (complaint) about the lack of posts and more importantly....When the hell is the movie coming out?

Soon, be patient...soon, my "precious".  Yikes.

Okay and in support of the folks who were there first...go see Buddy gigging this weekend, or Robby.  And Sarah appears in a crossover video online.  You can find it...I can't mention it by name due to a contractual agreement, but I watched it earlier and it was pretty cool.

Everyone have a great weekend!  We'll have some more stuff for you next week (I promise...I think....I hope...well...).

Sincerely,
Mike