Josh Gallegos

I meant to say Bryce Dallas Howard, don’t k ow why the “edit” button disappears. 

1 hour ago, Manu Delpech said:

First season was excellent, but this takes it a step further. Don't forget the directors involved, though Jon is the showrunner.

Baz Idoine really came into his own after shooting 2nd unit for Fraser for so long. Matthew Jensen (Wonder Woman) also putting in some excellent work. There's also an amazing moment in the first episode that screams IMAX but it's best not to spoil it for those who haven't watched it yet.  

Wish it was shot on film but I feel the Alexa LF + Ultra Vista combo works beautifully here and although it doesn't look that far removed from Rogue One, I prefer the look here. 

It's insane to see the production values you get on shows like this, or See (Apple TV, a must see), etc. 

I like the homage to “The Man With No Name” mystique, everything from the costume design to the lighting, every frame is telling a story and it’s difficult because Mando wears the chrome helmet, but you can still feel the performance! It’s really cinematic magic, and it’s true to George Lucas original vision , UNLIKE the JJ Abrahams Star Wars universe, which I loathe! The recent episode was directed by Bruce Dallas Howard and she has become an amazing artist. I also saw Sasha Banks (Mercedes Varanasi) had a role, she is amazing, she will become a huge Hollywood star, I loved her in “The Heiress” chapter. 

19 minutes ago, Manu Delpech said:

First season was excellent, but this takes it a step further. Don't forget the directors involved, though Jon is the showrunner.

Baz Idoine really came into his own after shooting 2nd unit for Fraser for so long. Matthew Jensen (Wonder Woman) also putting in some excellent work. There's also an amazing moment in the first episode that screams IMAX but it's best not to spoil it for those who haven't watched it yet.  

Wish it was shot on film but I feel the Alexa LF + Ultra Vista combo works beautifully here and although it doesn't look that far removed from Rogue One, I prefer the look here. 

It's insane to see the production values you get on shows like this, or See (Apple TV, a must see), etc. 

I like the homage to “The Man With No Name” mystique, everything from the costume design to the lighting, every frame is telling a story and it’s difficult because Mando wears the chrome helmet, but you can still feel the performance! It’s really cinematic magic, and it’s true to George Lucas original vision I like the JJ Abrahams Star Wars universe, which I loathe! The recent episode was directed by Bruce Dallas Howard and she has become an amazing artist. I also saw Sasha Banks (Mercedes Varanasi) had a role, she is amazing, she will become a huge Hollywood star, I loved her in “The Heiress” chapter. 

4 hours ago, David Mullen ASC said:

Yes, it is very well-made and evocative. In a weird way, I think quality streaming shows like "The Queen's Gambit", "The Crown", "The Mandalorian", which often take their time, not being constricted by the 2-hour limit of a feature film, are reprogramming the viewer to accept "slowness" in storytelling again, where you can have scenes that are just about character or just create a mood.

Yes! I am embracing these shows more than the feature films that are being made today! They’re not bulky, they are straight to the point and you spend time with the character, it’s just an open world and there is no hurry to get to the end, it’s always evolving and Star Wars has such a massive world. 
 

ive heard many great things about Queen’s Gambit, I’m actually a huge fan of Anya Taylor Joy when I saw her in ‘Emma’ so I will watch the show soon as I don’t like watching too many different shows at the same time. 
 

This is really the future of cinema, where characters and worlds can be explored without necessarily “ending” so abruptly. 

I’ve been obsessed with this show, I just watched the latest episodes from season 2 and I think it’s a complete masterwork. To begin with the images are so captivating, it just demands your attention, they’re so hypnotic and beautiful! I think Jon Favreau is a complete genius, to deliver quality episodes all the time and engage the viewer from beginning to end is tremendous feat.

Also as a side note, I think I want to pursue graphic novels, it’s basically a movie on paper, there’s a lot of great artists on DeviantArt, so I think it’s the best way instead of going out and shoot short videos and spending so much money, but I think Mando is the best show around! Love it to death!

I just saw this film on cable television last night and I absolutely loved it. It’s a masterwork by Spike Lee, and John David Washington is becoming one of my favorite actors, especially after I saw him in Tenet and now BlacKKKlansman, he has Cary Grant vibes and could easily be the next James Bond. He’s just very precise and has a big on screen presence. But I just loved the message the film had, it made me realize how huge of a monster Trump is and the hatred that he fueled in our country. It’s just powerful cinema, and it made me appreciate his work. I’m quite sad I didn’t see it in a theater when it came out! 

David Lynch was the cinematographer in this film, and I think it's radically different than any film ever made. I know many people find it bizarre, but I think this is the way films should be made, there shouldn't have to be an explanation for anything, it should break away from conventional structure that you see in mainstream films, to break away from the paradigm. When you see the film it feels like uncharted territory, things in the cinematic medium that haven't been fully explored. Maybe cinema can be something far more complex than just a three act story. I love the way the film looks, it's just incredibly unique. 

I did a revised cut of my recent short film.

PW:

pw444

I fixed the exposure a bit and added additional shots. It’s probably the final thing since I don’t have additional footage, I shot 7 pages in 3 hours. And I also framed it 2:1 this time.

In retrospect, I should have probably filmed it in 4K , since I only used up 8gb of storage from a 128gb memory card in full HD. I had a cheap $60 tripod and it was awful trying to level the thing from shot to shot, so I just used it over the shoulder. It was just good doing something again.

Also all my short films will be available here, I want to do another by the end of the year, a horror/thriller called FRENZY. I suffered an episode of psychosis some months ago and I still remember all the creepy stuff that happened, I want to turn that into a short film, but who knows if I’ll be able to get a bit of funds from seed and spark. I imagine it will be something like a $2,000 short.

the idea is that a man has visions of murdering his family.

https://vimeo.com/user123792391

Thank you. I don’t know why I wrote down my thoughts it’s a terrible habit.

Actually Brad Rushing didn’t delete my post, he’s actually nice to new HCC students. Is there a way to edit that?

Maybe some of you know him, so I wouldn’t want to post things about someone I don’t know. My mistake. 

I wouldn’t mind being on someone’s set, but I don’t think it’s professional to get invited into someone’s house, especially from a person that you don’t personally know, that’s just weird. I mean I can understand if we knew each other from a film school or something.  What if they give you a drink and then you wake up in a basement like Pulp Fiction with a gimp staring at you. Why not meet at a Starbucks or a zoom call???
 

Filmmaking should be kept professional, I never asked the people I worked with to meet me at my apartment. And I feel pathetic posting posts on Facebook, practically begging people to allow me on a set, and these filmmakers are just average people like me who just have more money.
 

There’s also a cinematographer named  Brad Rushing who thinks he’s god’s gift to filmmaking because he did the cinematography for Britney Spears and DMX music videos, and he’s constantly monitoring the Houston filmmakers page, and deleted my post when I introduced myself to the community. I guess he likes feeling big in a small pond of would be filmmakers, it’s really sad.

I think moving to Los Angeles after COVID-19, wouldn’t be a bad idea, I can make short films, find a job, and take photographs of the beautiful city, I can visit the great movie theaters and just live a fulfilling life. 

15 hours ago, Satsuki Murashige said:

What do you have to lose by going? 

I just don’t like how the system works. You have to rely on other people and that’s a pretty bad way to live a life, people are unreliable and most often than not they will let you down. I would prefer working and saving some money and making one or two short films per year and keep writing.

it’s just freelancing will take you straight into poverty and I’m already poor, not living in a van poor, but I get by enough to at least have something.

I was actually thinking of getting the new IPhone 12 instead of a mirrorless camera. I like to keep it simple, and there’s more portability and cheaper equipment. Otherwise the cost of renting lenses will add up. I mean if you can’t make anything on an iPhone 12 which now has Dolby Vision, the you can’t make it on a bigger camera. I can just buy an external mic some affordable LEDs and I can make many more films this way. I could film in bigger locations without attracting attention.

I just hate attention, I don’t like when people stare as your filming something. I think I can live an okay life if I just make personal films and not worry about “making it”, I realize that there’s a whole world of talented people making movies and so few get to make it to the big show. It’s really a pipe-dream, but it still doesn’t mean that I can’t make films. I’ll just make them when I feel the need to and I do t want to live a life where I’m relying on someone I hardly know to give me a job, and a job that won’t even cover gas.

I found out it’s a depressing life doing it that way, especially since I’m now 33 years old. I’ll just make iPhone movies and submit them to festivals when I become decent at it. I think I like that idea better. I don’t want to pretend to like people just so I can be around a Red camera or Arri Alexa, working with professional equipment doesn’t make you a professional. 

2 minutes ago, David Mullen ASC said:

With my shorts, my plan was to design a story that needed actors for a limited period and then surround that footage with things I could shoot on my own or with just one actor, so it was a mix of structured and unstructured work so I didn't find myself in a make or break shooting scenario. But the other important thing was to design shorts that were SHORT. 

What I’m going to do is continue making small 2 min short videos on my iPhone. I think FilmicPro (app) unlocks great features that have even more options than a $1000 DSLR. 

10 hours ago, Phil Rhodes said:

Well you're streets ahead of most people because you're actually producing stuff!

The amount of people in indie filmmaking who sit around talking about it and never do it is huge. Practice making perfect, and all that.

Well, I can understand them. Making something that could succeed takes planning and most importantly getting any kind of funding is really the hardest part.
 

Filmmaking is just too expensive if you want it done right. But I think I’m really just learning the things you shouldn’t do. For instance I know I should never film for only one night, scouting a location to plan the right storyboard is important , having the right equipment, rehearsing. Basically pre-production. I never did any kind of pre-production on my past short films and I’m not an effective communicator. 
 

You just need a small team, even if it’s just one or two more people, and you need a bit of space to think, when I started I couldn’t think, I blanked out. Good thing both of them were new actors so it was just practice for them. But I only spent about $300 to make it, so it’s not a big financial loss. I don’t see the talent, but maybe it’s just that I can’t do good technical work, because the images I had in my mind didn’t translate at all to what I captured. But I won’t linger on it, I’ll just move on and think on how to improve. 
 

I get a little weirded out by Houston filmmakers. Some guy is making a horror film with a Red camera and I asked to be on the set and he agreed, but now he wants me to go to his house to talk about his movie. He does have images on his Facebook page working with an Arri Alexa, so maybe he’s legit. But I just don’t like going to peoples houses that I don’t know. I don’t think there are any legit professionals in the city.

Well, I think I’m done filming this way, because it just doesn’t work that way. I felt this doomed feeling before I shot it and I was right. The room was too small and my storyboard didn’t work at all, I had something different envisioned, it was well paced and I ended up with this thing.

Still I’m grateful I was able to shoot something, I know the pace is awful and I didn’t have much of a script, so for the next one it’s just going to take more time and I wouldn’t do everything myself. I still need to get on a set to see how people normally communicate or try to get into a film school and learn how to collaborate. 

Especially pacing a shoot, I felt like I was making my first short film again. It wasn’t a good feeling. 

Posting a link to my 4th short that was shot this Sunday, so I edited it today. It’s called ’Wash Us in the Blood’ for some reason. 
 

I only had 3 hours to shoot 7 pages, it’s been 5 years of not handling a camera but this is the rough cut. I don’t really care that it’s bad because I know I can improve! I’ll just call it an experimental short. Lol.

im happy, can’t believe I’ve made 2 short films in less than a month, I never thought I would make anything again.

here’s the link.

My next short will hopefully have a budget, it’s going to be called FRENZY, a horror thriller. 
 

I’ll just keep moving forward and maybe one day I’ll be a decent filmmaker. 

I completed a short exercise, I know its insignificant and deeply amateurish, but it was to familiarize myself with Adobe Premiere Pro again.  

https://www.instagram.com/tv/CGtE_GkAG7h/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

*Note, I apologize about the other topic. I will never jump into personal conversations or ask anything that doesn't relate to filmmaking, and yes my early work is bad, and I suppose I want find a way to grow out of that phase. In terms of productivity I already completed two short films in only 3 weeks, which in essence took me two years to do (five years ago). I don't like the edit I made, but I will simply move on to the next thing! 

And it was done online using stock footage that is free and recorded performances from actors from facebook. Or aspiring actors.... 

6 minutes ago, Uli Meyer said:

I like that way of looking at it. Just enjoy the process and learn something while doing it. As long as everybody involved understands that, you might as well. Not sure about the God thing but that's another topic we better not get into ?

One thing though, if you post examples of your work, don't be upset if people give you honest advice. Nobody here wants to discourage you.

I’m not upset, there’s always room for improvement, and I entered into those two shorts with zero technical experience, but I was committed and finished. At this point I think I’m better off concentrating on my work and leaving the boards for a while. There will always be critics and opposers but at this point in my life I’m going choose faith and positivity. So I’m just going to log off from the board for a while or indefinitely, and network with local professionals on facebook to see what can be done so I don’t have to do everything myself. But take care everyone and I wish you all the success in the world. 
 

5 hours ago, aapo lettinen said:

Producer's work is actually what enables making the film in the first place. I would say it is about 80% of the whole filmmaking process. He/she actually gets the film made and distributed and uses his/her connections to arrange everything you need. It takes about 15 to 20 years to build the connections needed to get a reasonable budget feature film made (budget range from 500k to 8 million) and the low budget stuff needs lots of work too. That is the reason why it is so hard for indie filmmakers to get decent budget: their producer is not experienced enough. The work of the producer also enables making distribution contracts before the film is even made which is vital if you need to get any money back from it (everything done commercially is produced this way). The shoestring indie approach where you think that you will first complete the movie and THEN distribute it does not work at all if you need to get money back from it. Meaning that you will need to pay the distribution costs from your own pocket too. That generally means that the film gets very limited screening and very few people get to see it at all. So like Uli said, if you don't want to work with a experienced producer and get your film properly produced and sold beforehand, then the best approach is just to give it away for free and try to get some profit from the next one if your first film gets enough attention that experienced people get interested.

From the samples you posted before, you would want to hire a good editor too. I think the weak parts of those two shorts on your Vimeo account were specifically cinematography (lighting and camera work) and editing. I don't want to be discouraging but you really need much more editing experience than you currently have to put together a feature film which is watchable. Just get a good editor for your project and you will understand better then ?

I’m not going to worry about the odds, I’m not going to worry if turns out bad. I’m just going to do it and do an amazing job. I wasn’t asking for permission to make a feature, I’m making it and that’s the end of it. 
 

People may not be for me, but God is for me and that’s all that matters. I was living hopeless and defeated and suddenly this opportunity comes along. I’m going to take it and hit a grand slam. No one can ever discourage me. You guys can live a defeated life and think everything is impossible, but I won’t. 
 

there’s really nothing more to add, my mind is made up, nothing can change that. 

If you think about it, the Russian billionaire is searching for the missing pieces of this machine throughout the film, so even in death, there's another version of him that exists, how else would Kat be able to see herself jumping off the yacht and tell that story in the restaurant scene where they try to beat up the protagonist. When characters interact with themselves they can replace their former self. For instance, in the "end" the siege in the desert. Neil dies, he's shot in the head, but another version of Neil, the one who is honking the military vehicle is trying to warn them about it, but they run past and are trapped. When that version of Neil dies, the Neil who was in the military vehicle replaces him. SO this way the Russian has found a way to make himself immortal, remember when he says that he is buying time, maybe he has done this to prolong his life since he is dying of cancer. Perhaps when the Russian was dying he heard about this mysterious tech, given his immense wealth he was able to buy time.... or at least that is my own understanding of the concept. If this were to be explained it would be a four hour movie.

Well the lead character has no true name, he is simply known as The Protagonist, even in the script, which I have a copy of, he's simply written as "the protagonist",. There isn't even a backstory or character development. The exposition isn't really there for people to understand it, sometimes you can't really hear what they are saying. It has something to do with sequencing, it's as if he made a puzzle for the audience and it's their job to piece it together. It's an experimental mega-budget action/thriller. The sequences are out of order, in the opening opera scene we see Neil, who wears the backpack with the orange ring tethered on a small string save the Protagonist, which means the item that he was taking from the coat area was an inverted weapon. The Protagonist was meant to die, but Neil saved him. The ending of the movie is really the beginning, because remember that all the pieces of the device are disassembled and they all need to hide the pieces again, and anyone who sees the full weapon must die. So I believe the film is stuck in a loop of events, the meaning of the orange circle, that's why the protagonist is trying to find out what the anomaly is, so he traces the source of this anomaly to the Indian woman which he ends up killing. "Mission accomplished". My only question is how the Russian billionaire's wife, when she murders her husband in the yacht, how was she able to exist without wearing the oxygen mask, unless the the ROTOS device was something of a time-machine, the huge machine in the airport which they passed through again.... ? I could be wrong. 

10 hours ago, Tyler Purcell said:

Honestly, you can't compare the 60's to 2020, there is literally no comparison film industry wise. 

Right, but you can't make a great film if you won't listen to people who have made great films.

There is a formula to being successful, but beginners never follow it because it's too much work. They look at the 3 - 5 year journey and say "na I can do better" and guess what, they never do. When I say never, I really mean never. Again, I can come up with 3 examples of no-budget productions that made money in the last 30 years. Mind you, none of those filmmakers really became successful however. So in the long run, their little Indies made them some money, but did it really forward their careers? Not as much as you'd think. 

The other road is to work your way up as a crew person first, get to be known in the industry. Make a few shorts. Do the festival thing. Post gobs of content online and work up your image. Again, it's a long-term process, it could take a decade or two, but once you're known, the pieces will fall together and the next thing ya know, you'll be making something bigger. 

Honestly, you probably have better luck getting eyes on your content through YouTube than you do through the no-budget indy scene. If you had a full time job and you put every penny into making a short-film series, you could get some serious viewership. Again, in the long run it does come down to how many eyes you get on your content. 
 

Los Angeles a bad place to be? WOW how you got that from the writings above, I have no idea. Out of the people who responded to this post, I can only count 3 people who currently live here full time, outside of myself. There wouldn't be 4 million people in Los Angeles county if it were a "bad place to be". Los Angeles is just a stop for many people. They come here and are either successful or they're not and they move on. Successful people generally don't live here full time because it can be overwhelming for them. Simply walking down the street can be met with paparazzi and stares. No thanks, it's much easier to put your family in a small town somewhere not to far away from an airport and fly in when you need to be here. With todays tech, you can do pretty much everything but production remotely. I've even been on set where producers logged in via zoom. This is becoming the new norm, so the point of living here full time for already successful people, is dwindling. 

Yes Los Angeles is expensive, yes it can be dirty and gritty at times, but there is no place in the US that has such perfect weather, that has so many attractions; excellent food, some of the best theaters in the world, mountains to climb, beaches to walk, oceans to surf/swim, canyon roads to drive/ride on, skate parks to tear up, endless trails to ride bikes on, ski resorts an hour from downtown, dozens of national parks including Yosemite just a few short hours away, the list goes on and on. Just think about the resources for filmmakers from multiple film labs, to low-cost rentals, to post houses, to industry standard screening rooms, to amazing places like the New Bev and American Cinematheque. You just don't get these anywhere else in the US, you may get one or two, but not all. 

Honestly, Los Angeles is a great place, but ya gotta pay to play. If you have a steady full-time job, then it's easy to make it work. Shoot your films on the weekends and spend the weeknights prepping/writing. 

On a side note, I do plan on moving back to the east coast, but mostly due to helping my parents, not because LA is a bad place. 

Have you done shorts? Maybe the first thing to do is get some content out there. 

Crowd funding features is hard these days, but if you don't need much, it maybe possible. 

 

I've only made two short films back in 2014/2015. But I've written 7 spec scripts, so my true experience is in screenwriting. I am only a "filmmaker", because I wanted to see my work get made. I've placed in several contests and have had scripts on the top list on the Black List website, and a Zero Gravity Management producer read my script and passed, so I blew my chances of getting represented by them. Usually screenwriters become professional around their mid to late thirties, sometimes in their forties. Even great talented screenwriters like Charlie Kaufman didn't get any of their scripts produced until he was 40 years old, so you can imagine, if someone of his immense talent had to wait such a long time....and, I'm not comparing myself to him at all, he's a master of the craft. It can be unfair, because if some college douche writes a comedy that a young reader likes, he/she will get representation. Plus, if you want to market a script, you have to know what's being made. And there's really only about 500-600 working screenwriters in Hollywood out of thousands of aspiring writers, a small percentage like David Koepp, Eric Roth who make millions. So, I thought I had a better chance to try and make something on my own.

The struggle has been to become good in the technical side of cinematography, editing,  all of which take a lifetime to master. But I'm just going to keep making small independent short films that I write and try to get my first feature made. So that's really where I'm coming from, my only interest is narrative work and not creating "youtube content" to make money. 

And it's actually really difficult to write a short film, you just don't have the breathing room, you're deeply limited by budget, connections.  I think the best short film I've ever seen until this day is 'Bottle Rocket' by Wes Anderson, it's straight-forward, it's really funny, I can still remember most of the short film by memory. I don't think anyone will be able to top that. 

1 hour ago, Justin Hayward said:

I don't mean to discourage.  I actually think these hard facts are kind of encouraging.  As long as you aren't flat out lying to investors about what they're getting into or knowingly and purposely ripping anyone off, then I think ultra low budget filmmaking is very freeing and possibly really satisfying in terms of creativity.  

How is it ripping someone off? I’m not using the money to buy a car, he wants a film made, I said I could make one and provided an example of what could happen. I think if I had a more experienced cinematographer on my side, decent sound, an actual crew, I could make something good. There are all sorts of small horror festivals all over the country, I’ve seen them on film freeway, it can be seen, even if it’s just a small room with 15 people. I’m not interested in marketing or whatever it is you’re talking about, maybe someone else should be in charge of that? A producer maybe? I don’t see how that relates to filmmaking. 
 

note. I know the edit I posted is bad, I usually just add music on rough edits and remove it all on the second edit. I probably won’t have any music on the final edit. But it’s been a while since I’ve used Adobe Premiere Pro, so I won’t be lost when I make my third short this Sunday. 

I'm shooting a short this Sunday, but I also put together an experimental short film, done completely online. I wrote a short abous suicide during lockdown, and its basically about people releasing their suicide video before they take their lives, it's not complete yet, there's one more character missing, the most important one, it's about an old man who has a dream oh his dead wife , and when he wakes up he misses her so much he decides to end his life, it's being recorded. SO it's three videos, there's only two in this edit... so the last part feels empty because it's missing. It's an editing excercise since I haven't done anything in 5 years, will post the full version when I have the final segment ready.