iSundae II Trailer from Phantom Moose Films on Vimeo.

You can also watch the video on YouTube.

You will most definitely want to check out the iSundae II page, where you’ll find links to all the fan sorts of things you can do to get ready for the release.

Stress:

Stress comes in all sizes and forms. An actor who thinks he has to get a shot right the first time, or a director who has the pressure of finishing on time in an hour. A crewmember who’s gotten in trouble for bumping the boom pole (again). As directors, or anyone, we need to be aware of the stress levels around us and adjust accordingly. Sometimes you don’t know someone is stressed until they burst into tears or freeze up. Trust me, backing off the pressure, or giving reaffirming words takes much less time than waiting for an actor to be able to function again. Of course, on the flip side, slowing things down to take off pressure can be even more stressful than it was before!

You have to know the people around you—how they’ll react under different pressures or motivations—and be willing to make them happy, even if it means more work for you. And remember, your stress level as an individual affects the group as a whole. Especially if you let the stress show itself in negative ways, such as non-gentleness, frustration, physical agitation, tone of voice, and attitude. Attitude? Look out! Here comes the second side of the Triangle.

Attitude:

“This is taking forever.” “Why do I have to this again? I just did it twice!” “If the director knew what he was doing we would be out of here by now.” “No, I don’t want a pacifying compliment, how dare you?”

Now, hopefully these thoughts wouldn’t come out of our mouths, but they can show through in our actions or tone of voice. All it takes is one person with a chip on their shoulder. Pretty soon everyone is uptight or upset. Why do we get this way? Initially it’s because of our fleshly nature, but why do we let ourselves go and dig down our heads down into the comfortable sand of being miffed? Well, it’s easier to sulk than to change our attitude.

Directors, we have to be an example here. It’s tough, but you’re the leader. If the director ain’t happy, nobody’s happy. Stay positive!

And all you others: actors, crew, production team, cinematographers, this applies to you even more than the director. There are way more of you than there are directors, and if you don’t encourage them by your attitudes and actions, they’ll never reach the best that they could be. Nothing is so discouraging as a cranky team. Nothing. (Unless you count the camera falling into the pond and getting eaten by a giant Canada Goose that’s upset because you didn’t feed it in disobedience to the sign. Aha! See? A bad attitude on the goose’s part ruined the film day.)

Anyway, my point is, you have a choice. Remain positive and encouraging and helpful, or let your emotions go where they will and be huffy, because it’s all about you. Uh oh, I think we’re surrounded now. There’s the third side off the port bow!

Selfishness:

This may seem like a no-brainer. “That’s MY copy of the script, so go find your own,” or, “You’re in MY director’s chair.” But I’m not talking about the really obvious things. I’m referring to the little things; the tiny, tiny decisions we make that can add up rapidly. “I’m tired and trying to stay positive, so I’ll let somebody else go look for the missing prop.” “Oh, I’m busy right now. If you want something to drink, it’s upstairs.” Or, “I don’t want to run down there to align everyone, so I’ll just yell instructions.”

Let’s look at that last statement. The theory behind it is sound, but what is the possible outcome? Have you ever had instructions yelled at you? Chances are, you won’t do exactly what they want you to do, so they’ll yell again, and you know what? Their voice changes and things start to get uncomfortable. Even if they’re still using a kind voice, no one likes being hollered at twice. Then they “give up” on you and “stomp” over to show you how they want something done. They may not literally stomp, but it’s still very embarrassing to have forced them to come over and show you what they want. See the potential for hurt feelings and stressed-out people?

Your actions are the cause that creates an effect. You can either be wiling to do as much as you can to make things easier for other people, or you can have a “cater to me” mindset. Can you still have someone do something for you and not be selfish? Absolutely! What I’m talking about is a mindset; a heart attitude that should say “you first, me later.” This serving heart goes a long way to keeping everyone stress-free. Stress? Ah! We’re back to the beginning. Maybe I should call this the Filmmaker’s Circle. No, it doesn’t have the same ring to it.

To start with, we finished up editing this morning. My group was a bit behind schedule, but we managed to finish our movie to our satisfaction.

We then watched a movie that one of our teachers had made. And then we got to critique a film by an alumni of Compass.

Then the parents arrived and we started screening our film shorts. We all got to critique the films made by the other groups.

We also talked a bit about some things that we could do now as high school students to get into film.

Overall, the week was awesome and I had a great time learning about aspects of film that I hadn’t known about previously.

And it’s so nice to write this final post from the iPhone!

While some of my group logged footage, the rest of the group and I had a lesson in film history. We watched a few old movies from the 1920s with Buster Keaton. Cool and hilarious!

Then we just edited out a rough cut, showed it to our instructors, and did a little bit of fine tuning.

Tomorrow we’ll be finishing our movie, and showing it to everybody else.

We started out working on our stories and finishing up our scripts.

After the scripts were done, we had a Final Cut demo, basic how-to. Not too exciting for me. But after Final Cut, we did a sound demo, so that was a lot more exciting.

After lunch, some actors came in to be in our movies. That was cool! My group worked with a great guy who plays our main character.

Basically after that we just shot video all afternoon. In HD. It looks great. I’m the Assistant Director, which means that I have the voice of realism (Rebekah and Ruth, don’t laugh!) and I have to log our shots.

We reviewed our footage just before the end of the day, and we’re pretty happy with what we shot. Tomorrow we’ll be doing a bit more shooting, then I think we’re going to start editing.

We started out by screening our in-camera films from yesterday. Everybody had fun watching what the other groups came up with, and laughing at our attempts at editing on-camera.

Then we went on to more on story. We went through a crash course on the three act structure and how the action rises and different plot points that should be in each act. We talked about themes in a story, and how the characters should not come right out and say what the theme is, but should show the theme. If nothing else, we should have gotten the important “Show, do not tell” phrase down.

We watched and analyzed the beginning of the movie Batman Begins to explore how themes are presented in a film.

After that, we had a quick lighting demo. It was quicker than expected, because one of the lamps blew a bulb, so a lot of the time was spent looking for more lights to use. I did see how useful a set of barn doors can be.

Then we had a very brief outline of pre-production, after which we started off and running with our groups. We had to come up with three story ideas, and then pitch them to our teacher/leader. He then helped us pick the best one, and we’ll finish up pre-pro tomorrow.

That about does it. We’ll start shooting tomorrow afternoon.

So we started by learning a little bit about the basics of story. Then we learned about how to stimulate an idea, and then how to cultivate it.

After that, we watched a few Pixar shorts to study how they follow the story points that we learned about previously.

Since this is a faith-based camp, we viewed a few clips from some movies to see how Christian values end up in mainstream media. We learned a little about how to make sure those values actually end up in the final film by tying them to points of character and story, which makes it impossible to cut them out.

After that, it was time to learn how to use some fancy Sony cameras, and then make a very short movie.

We started out by splitting into three groups. Each group had a camera and about ninety minutes to make a short silent film with in-camera editing (no computers). Ours was about four people confronting the problem of a broken Coke machine. Nothing spectacular, but it gave us all a laugh when it was done.

Tomorrow, we’ll be watching and analyzing our movies from yesterday. We’ll also be starting the creative process on a longer movie, and learning about lighting (whoohoo!).

That’s all for now, except for a question directed at Ruth and Rebekah:

Was there something I was supposed to ask about? I completely forgot if there was! Leave a comment here and I’ll ask it tomorrow or Wednesday.

Oh, and just to instill pity in your hearts, I’m writing this from a PC on dial-up. It’s driving me nuts! *pulls hair out*

Not much to say except that I’m excited to get started at camp tomorrow. We drove by Compass on the way to my grandparents’ where I’m staying.

I just have to try posting a photo from this thing, so here’s a quickie I took of the PC (bleah) I’ll be posting from:

More coming tomorrow night!

The script isn’t working. Try what you may, it just isn’t working.

A list of props that need to be made stares you in the face. What should they look like? Your brain refuses to function.

These are places when it is easiest to say, “Forget this, I’m going to go read a book.” True, you could plunge on ahead and make yourself do them, but, for goodness sake, it’s not FUN! Isn’t this life-consuming production we call amateur movie-making supposed to be fun? If not fun, at least semi-enjoyable. I mean, who wants to burst into tears over a sketch of a medieval table? (And no, I have not personally done that one. Yet.)

I have found that when I hit a dead end often enough, I get discouraged, and when I get discouraged run for your lives. Nothing gets done because I don’t want to do it. Or, better yet, I do it with a pout on my face and an attitude that is, shall we say, smelly? All the excitement and sparkle of making a movie is gone. There is nothing left. Nada.

Fortunately I have a found a way to drag my excitement back out of the black hole it crawls into, and I want to share it with you.

In a word (or three): Take a break.

“But wait!” you say. “If I take a break, it’ll never get done!” Now hold on, hear me out. It’s not the break itself that helps. It’s what you do during the break.

What motivates you to create something? What inspires you? What makes you flat-out happy? Everyone has something that makes them tick. Maybe listening to music, or doodling on a piece of paper, watching a movie, seeing something interesting visually, there are many, many ways. Find what works for you and remember it! Keep it ready for when you need a pick-me-up. Go ahead, pump that soundtrack through the speakers. (Assuming it won’t disturb anyone.) Pour yourself a Coca-Cola and read a good book. Whatever gets you going again.

Then, when you’re stoked up, go back to the project. Gently. Don’t rush things too much or your newly inflated bubble will pop. If you have to, work on some other aspect of the project. There are always things to be done; just find one that is the least strenuous. You can do it!

For me, my inspiring something is learning about other people’s movie-making experiences. I love watching the ‘making of’ sections on movies like Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, or National Treasure, and I absolutely love looking at costumes created for a specific role in a film.

As a side note, some of my “books for depressionitis” are:

The Art of Star Trek, by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens
A great book for looking at pictures of way-cool props. (Warning, some inappropriate costumes.)

The Lord of the Rings: The Making of the Movie Trilogy, by Brian Sibley
So much fun! This one goes into the whole process, including props, filming, costumes, CGI, music, actors, and lots more. Very, very good. (Warning, some bad language.)

Fashion: The Collection of the Kyoto Costume Institute, A history from the 18th to the 20th Century.
Granted, this one isn’t about a movie, but it’s a nice reference for historical costumes, and I like looking at all the colors and fabrics and styles. (Warning, some really, really weird costumes once you get into the 20th Century, and some inappropriate ones. )