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Guest Jackson Blake

Is anyone looking to buy land in LA?

I am. I found some exciting land, at heights but don't really have it. Maybe if 4 people went in over 20 years it could be $150 per month over 20 years.

 

I always wanted to film Athens, a reenactment, wake up in togas surrounded by cameras. :D

A utopia.

Edited by Jackson Blake
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Here's what Kendrick Lamar has to say on the whole issue:

 

 

Oh yeah and it might not be safe for work and might be a bit offensive and stuff, just thought I'd warn you now you have clicked on it...

Edited by Freya Black
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I quite enjoyed that, but I didn't like the slick style of the lyrics caligraphy. What about some homeless LA people shuffling undercranked through frame holding up cue cards written on shitty old cardboard.

 

Might help if the lyrics were right too. At least it's close but you would think they could get it all right on the official Lamar vevo channel.

 

I like your idea to show all the homeless people with bloodshot eyes shuffling through LA smoking crack and stuff. Not as good for the LA tourist industry but could be good to show another side to Cali at the same time.

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.....homeless people with bloodshot eyes shuffling through LA smoking crack and stuff. ....

 

 

It may seem like a too-obvious irony, but it's (would be) genuine and meaningfull. The slick veneer of what's offered on MTV sort of begs for it. I thought the clip you posted was slightly self-mocking, which is one reason to like it.

 

When I said "undercranked" I didn't mean they needed a hit, I was just talking about the camera fps. (giggling face)

 

EDIT: Added unsavoury drug reference.

Edited by Gregg MacPherson
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The slick veneer of what's offered on MTV sort of begs for it. I thought the clip you posted was slightly self-mocking, which is one reason to like it.

 

It's certainly been written with a sense of humor and AFAIK Kendrick is a Christian who doesn't smoke so hey who knows...

 

Freya

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Assuming you're right, I don't know if he's qualified to make a "slightly self mocking" piece, with this "weed, women and weather" pithy centre. I mean, what does he really know about it? Perhaps he is one of the repentant...? Freya, you spoiled it for me.

 

Ooops! Sorry if I ruined it. Yeah he could be repentant, it could be more the influence of Dr Dre, he might just be commenting on the scene he is on. He might have just stopped smoking. Some people think he might have sold his soul to the devil and that is why he is so worried about being chased by lucy. Honestly I have no idea!

 

That's why he reckons you should go to LA tho! :)

 

Freya

Edited by Freya Black
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To be fair as well I think Kendrick has a lot of experience of stuff.

Here's a song with a proper video so you can check out the cinematography.

I like the bit where Kendrick is standing in the lights and sometimes he suddenly looks sorta evil and on something and then it goes away. Nice! :)

 

 

I like all the slo-mo stuff although in places it looks like a bunch of product shots and commercials but hey maybe that works in the context.

 

Freya

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Oh yeah and if anyone wants to suggest how the falling stuff was done I'd be interested to hear it.

I would guess a trampoline but I don't think he can be jumping up on it so maybe he is really falling a short distance off something.

 

Maybe just falling into a net a short distance. What do you think?

I know its slow-mo and cut up into short shots but he does seem to be falling horizontally for a long time.

 

Freya

Edited by Freya Black
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  • 1 month later...

Oh yeah and if anyone wants to suggest how the falling stuff was done I'd be interested to hear it.

I would guess a trampoline but I don't think he can be jumping up on it so maybe he is really falling a short distance off something.

 

Maybe just falling into a net a short distance. What do you think?

I know its slow-mo and cut up into short shots but he does seem to be falling horizontally for a long time.

 

Freya

There is a pool scene, so maybe from like 10 feet and into the pool?

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  • 4 weeks later...

Los Angeles is an interesting beast... I went on vacation there about a year ago and stayed about 3 weeks. My conclusion on Los Angeles is this: Even the film productions are running away from it. The weather was nice, the ocean was okay.... Everything else though felt like a hodge-podge of New York mixed with some random slum in Mexico with a little Phoenix thrown in... Needless to say - give me the Midwest any day of the week. Around here (Ohio), we have amazing lakes, rivers, wooded areas, big cities, small towns, grass... grass... Oh, and it's green (at least several months out of the year).

Honestly, if you want to 'work' in the film industry, i.e. 'get a job on a set', then you can setup shop in LA if you want, but keep in mind that a lot of bigger productions no longer shoot in California at all. From my survey of it, a lot of what is left in Cali is television, commercials, and the occasional larger feature - oh and a lot of wanna-be filmmakers with crushed dreams because they thought they'd move to LA and get a job on a set. If you're looking to work in the film business, it might be more suiting to set up shop in Chicago or somewhere like that. You'll also have less competition than you do in LA.

If you want to make movies yourself, my advice would be avoid LA all together. You'd be shocked at the amount of support you can receive by shooting your movie outside of the typical 'movie centers'.

Just my $0.02 for whatever its worth.

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A lot of what you concluded is correct Landon, for small indie filmmakers there are a lot of better places around the US and Canada.

 

LA still offers one big advantage, it's the financing centre for large studio films, and if you want to work in that arena, you need to be there to take meetings etc. If you want to direct, write, or produce, such content.

 

Then again, a lot of those people starve in LA as well.

 

R,

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Please, Richard, you can't starve in La, you just walk through the rich neighborhoods and collect the Avocados and Oranges from the trees! Hell it's even Vegan and Organic ;)

 

But seriously, LA is a strange strange place, still hasn't even grown on me, though I'm slowly finding the nooks and crannies which have some kind of real identity and can make one feel slightly at ease.

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Please, Richard, you can't starve in La, you just walk through the rich neighborhoods and collect the Avocados and Oranges from the trees! Hell it's even Vegan and Organic ;)

 

Oh I thought you had to pay for that?

 

R,

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The one huge benefit of working in LA from an outsider's point of view is the ease with which all the film-related toys can be acquired. Pretty much all the exotic anamorphic lenses, lighting tools, studios, technocranes, rain towers, post facilities, etc. that you could ever want can be delivered at the drop of a hat for often surprisingly low prices. There's no shortage of talent or crew. Any location can be had and locked down. The whole city is basically a huge backlot because this is their main industry. Whereas in most other locations, you are often working around the local industries and it's not nearly as easy to get access to locations unless you have tons of money.

 

Now, if you are a run-and-gun no budget filmmaker who can't afford permits, then LA will be worse for you than other locales simply because everyone there understands the industry and what things cost. You can't get away with shooting without permits, or getting locations for free nearly as easily.

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Needless to say - give me the Midwest any day of the week. Around here (Ohio), we have amazing lakes, rivers, wooded areas, big cities, small towns, grass... grass... Oh, and it's green (at least several months out of the year).

See, that's the great thing about California. All of that stuff is only a few miles away headed north. California does have great lakes, beautiful/picturesque small towns, lots of greenery and one of the countries best cities (San Fransisco). One of the reasons the film industry was stared here IS due to the unlimited possibilities. Next time you come out here, start in the northern part of California, above San Fransisco and head south through the redwood forrest, through san fran, down along the coast past Monterey and San Luis Obispo. If Los Angeles is all you've seen, you've really missed California.

 

keep in mind that a lot of bigger productions no longer shoot in California at all.

Right, but lets say you lived in South Carolina or Georgia, which have quite a bit of shooting. Both states tomorrow could say, hey we're done with tax rebates and then you're screwed. Also, you're heavily reliant on smaller jobs. The bigger jobs are mostly booked out of California.

 

From my survey of it, a lot of what is left in Cali is television, commercials, and the occasional larger feature - oh and a lot of wanna-be filmmakers with crushed dreams because they thought they'd move to LA and get a job on a set. If you're looking to work in the film business, it might be more suiting to set up shop in Chicago or somewhere like that. You'll also have less competition than you do in LA.

I agree that California is the place of crushed dreams and people who think they can get into the film industry by simply living here. However, there are really no other guarantee's anywhere else. At least if you live here, you can be on a film set every day from the moment you land as a P.A. If you're smart and get on a syndicated TV show crew, you can probably work your way up the ladder very fast through dedication and long hours. You won't get that anywhere else but CA and NYC. So if you want to live in the frigid North East to get LESS work, be my guest. The other way is to live in CA, get a poop stain apartment for peanuts, learn to ride a motorcycle so you can get around town quickly and start on the ground level. This is what the smart people do and many of them are far more successful then I've been, simply because they were willing to suck up their pride and start as a P.A.

 

If you want to make movies yourself, my advice would be avoid LA all together. You'd be shocked at the amount of support you can receive by shooting your movie outside of the typical 'movie centers'.

Where I agree that no/low budget films that one person writes, produces, shoots, edits, directs, are easier to shoot in other places. Where you're confused/mistaken about are the benefits of shooting in Los Angeles. The biggest benefit in my opinion comes from the available talent in both crew and cast. You can get top people for peanuts here in LA because there are so many good people without work. Plus, you can get A- cast if you're shooting here in LA. If you've got a great script and some money, the cast will come. They won't however, fly all over the place and deal with hotels for low money, that rarely happens. So from the point of view of your movie being a success, the #1 thing you need is a decent recognizable cast, which is something you won't get anywhere else but LA and NYC for low money. If you've got millions, it really doesn't matter anymore because you can deal with travel expenses.

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See, that's the great thing about California. All of that stuff is only a few miles away headed north. California does have great lakes, beautiful/picturesque small towns, lots of greenery and one of the countries best cities (San Fransisco). One of the reasons the film industry was stared here IS due to the unlimited possibilities. Next time you come out here, start in the northern part of California, above San Fransisco and head south through the redwood forrest, through san fran, down along the coast past Monterey and San Luis Obispo. If Los Angeles is all you've seen, you've really missed California.

 

No Tyler! Stop sending people up here to NorCal! The traffic is bad enough as it is ;)

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I stand ready to be corrected as we're not talking about my home town here, but I think a lot of that is dependent upon a degree of success that simply won't come to many people.

 

 

 

If you're smart and get on a syndicated TV show crew, you can probably work your way up the ladder very fast through dedication and long hours

 

"Probably"? I would suspect that the failure rate is considerably above 50% even in the world centre of filmmaking.

 

 

the #1 thing you need is a decent recognizable cast, which is something you won't get anywhere else but LA and NYC for low money... If you've got millions, it really doesn't matter anymore because you can deal with travel expenses.

 

Surely to get anything approaching a recognisable cast, you'd need to have very significant money in any case.

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I stand ready to be corrected as we're not talking about my home town here, but I think a lot of that is dependent upon a degree of success that simply won't come to many people.

Well, it depends on your definition of success. For someone who wants to desperately work on a film set, it's VERY easy to be "successful" unless you have some sort of mental/physical issue which prevents you from following direction and/or are a bum and don't work hard to prove yourself. I know many people who went that route and were not successful, but they had those other issues. Most people do have a mental issue and it's not being able to stoop down in order to rise up. Very few people are WILLING to start on the ground level and work their way up through the ranks. Most people come to Los Angeles with a great deal of experience already and all they want to do is make their films. Trying to convince those people to start as a P.A., working 16+ hour days doing the most mundane poop for $125/day, is nearly impossible.

 

"Probably"? I would suspect that the failure rate is considerably above 50% even in the world centre of filmmaking.

It depends on what constitutes a failure. I never did the ground-up method because when I landed, I already secured work as a director, cinematographer and editor. I was already doing what I came here to do and even though I've been through many years of up's and down's, I couldn't work for $125/day at any moment in time, it wasn't enough money. I had to change industries in order to pay my rent. With that said, if you land here and you focus on starting from the ground up, living cheaply and meeting people, your success rate will be higher for sure.

 

Surely to get anything approaching a recognisable cast, you'd need to have very significant money in any case.

You'd be surprised how cheaply you can get A- cast. I work on low-budget shows all the time and the type of cast these producers and directors can secure because they're here in LA and its easy for the talent, is quite amazing. If your story offers an actor something unique for them and the script is solid, there is a high likelihood you could get them on board. Yes, you've gotta have a good producer, someone who knows people and is personally invested in your project. Outside of that however, the rest is gravy. There are literally hundreds of sub $500k features and shorts with one or a few A- cast members. The key is to nab B+ leads, recognizable names from television. Offer then SAG schedule F flat rate for the movie. Then fill in the bit roles with A- cast. This technique has been used a lot on lower budget shows and it works great. But it doesn't work at all if you're shooting in Colorado. You aren't getting an A- cast member to fly out to Colorado for pa few peanuts.

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