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Experimental Edit short


Josh Gallegos

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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.

 

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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.... 

Edited by Josh Gallegos
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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. 

Edited by Josh Gallegos
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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. 

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As Phil says, practice until you get it right. One of the hardest things about filmmaking is learning how the world in front of the camera translates on screen. It’s something you’ll be learning and improving upon for your whole career but if you keep working at it, eventually something will click and you’ll get it.

There are a few shortcuts that you can take without having to produce and direct a whole bunch of films first, like learning still photography to understand lenses and composition, or editing other filmmakers’ footage to understanding pacing and coverage. But mostly, it’s just practice over and over until it becomes second nature. You’re doing the right thing by just making your films and learning as you go. 

Best of luck to you Josh!

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2 hours ago, Satsuki Murashige said:

One of the hardest things about filmmaking is learning how the world in front of the camera translates on screen... But mostly, it’s just practice over and over until it becomes second nature.

Yes. That, a thousand times that. 

Josh, your experience of shooting something and being dissatisfied is normal, and it remains normal up to quite high levels; the level of expectation increases with your experience. 

Well, hang on. It's not normal. What's normal is to sit around, not shooting anything, talking about it. By actually finishing stuff and putting it out, you're actually well ahead of the curve.

P

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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.

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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. 
 

 

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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. 

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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. 

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At some level it barely matters what you shoot on. Nice gear is nice, of course, but at some level the task of directing it and designing it is basically the same. There are detail changes but if you can make a decent short on an iphone you can do it on anything.

I always think you learn most in the editing process.

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7 hours ago, Josh Gallegos said:

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.

What do you have to lose by going? 

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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. 

Edited by Josh Gallegos
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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. 

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7 hours ago, Josh Gallegos said:

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,

However, that is filmmaking in a nutshell. And as far as life is concerned, ‘no man is an island’...

Re: freelancing

In my experience, the key elements of a successful freelancing career are cultivating a positive ‘can-do’ attitude, keeping an open mind, and avoiding foot-in-mouth situations. Everything else can be taught.

 

5 hours ago, Josh Gallegos said:

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.

I don’t want to make light of sexual assault, as it is a real problem. However, this scenario seems rather farfetched in this case...

Anyway, the filmmaking life is just non-stop meeting people you don’t know in odd places. Sometimes it’s great, sometimes it’s disappointing, and sometimes it’s weird. Personally, I love it. But love it or hate it, that is what it is.

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4 minutes ago, Satsuki Murashige said:

I don’t want to make light of sexual assault, as it is a real problem.

If I were going to be willfully led into some kind of assault, it would most likely be by someone enticing me to talk about movies. "Have you read Sidney Lumet's book?"  "Me too..."  I'd follow like a cockroach to the dark. ?

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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

 

 

Edited by Josh Gallegos
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