From Famine to Feast!

I’m sure every filmmaker out there knows what its like when you struggle and try so hard for so long just to get your work noticed. Its not easy getting peoples attention these days unless you do something completely crazy that most people would say is not worth the effort for the slight possibility that it may still not get noticed. I say to hell with that “Its easier to not try the try at all” mentality! If you are as serious about your dreams as I am then there are no limits and there are no boundaries unless of course you harm another human or animal or do something so sick in the process that its simply morally wrong. I guess common sense which isn’t so common would come to play there. I know that I have sacrificed my home, wife and my health on many occasions just to get my movie done and in the process Ive been documenting it all on video accumulating footage for a documentary which I plan on releasing tilted “Dare To Dream”. Its about my struggles right from day one, actualy 5 years of footage of trying to make it even before I started Bong.

I really don’t know why I’m so obsessive with making movies or why watching them and collecting them makes me feel the way it does. Its almost like oxygen to me as in I need them to breathe and to live. Its also a great means of escape which we all need now and then in today’s fast paced world of credit debt, global tension and economical hardships. Im sure some of you know exactly what I mean when I say movies are like my life line.

Now that Bong is officially finished and I actually am in the marketing phase of things it seems that important people around the world are finally beginning to take notice. By important people I mean dream makers who have the authority and the connections to put my film in the light where others can finally see what I’ve accomplished for the past 2.5 years all alone in my dark basement studio. All the thousands of hours of neck cramps, leg cramps and carpel tunnel is finally becoming worth it!

Dealing with distribution offers is a whole other ball park when you’re used to trying to get a hold of them and instead ending up with the same generic answer of “Just send us a screener copy and we’ll let you know”. It seems that distribution companies are a tight nit circle of friends who pass information to one another and somehow they are all interconnected from all corners of the world. Of course most are in competition with one another but others have partners in corners of the world which help extend their reach. I am now getting emails, and phone calls from them instead of the other way around and its a great feeling that someone is noticing my hard work! However not all distribution companies are interested in the struggling filmmaker trying to make it scenario which is a major back story to my movie. Some simply want to buy the product, ie The movie and turn around and sell it for a profit and dont care whether or not Ive almost died several times trying to make the film. Others on the other hand love the idea that there is more to the film and that there is passion sweat blood and tears which have made the final product and they want to explore that aspect as well. I’m leaning more towards the companies that care about my story as a filmmaker and my movie at the same time. At this stage most filmmakers get taken for everything because they are so excited that someone is finally paying attention to them so they sign without knowing what they are actually giving away! I’m lucky enough to have been researching distribution offers and the dos and donts for the past 2 years way before I even shot my first scene. Best thing I ever did was invest in Stacey Parks Book “The Insiders Guide to Independent Film Distribution”. This book is the bible for indie filmmakers and if you don’t own it then you are already on the wrong path! Do whatever it takes to get a copy and read it then once you’re done reading it, read it again then repeat! I always had distribution in mind which is why I did a lot of the things I did during production and post such as creating various posters for the different corners of the world and translating my press kit to 4 different languages and so on.

Filmmakers need to realize that the days of having no options but to go with a distributor are over! Finally the little guy has a voice and has a very big friend in his court and that friends name is “THE INTERNET!” In today’s world we have so many online options for self distribution which makes it a whole lot easier to get found! We have Netflix,Amazon,Createspace,IMDB,Youtube,Without a box etc. the list goes on and on. All these companies are now a huge part of self distribution which is a common root for people like me and you. We no longer have to jump to the first offer that comes down the pipe because we can do it ourselves and its been proven. Look at “Paranormal Activity” which got rejected from every major festival and distribution was not knocking. A film which cost peanuts to make grossed 240 Million! Of course using a reputable distribution company will give you a more wider reach right from the start but heck if you self distribute and it blows up then distributors come knocking anyways.

I’m of the opinion that if you want to get your film noticed then do whatever you can to make sure its done rationally be it self distribution or taking the first offer on the table. If the deal is good and its what you want then go for it! That said if you are not in any hurry to recoup your expenses which is my scenario then take your time and do the festival circle and build clout, do the platform theatrical release in your hometown and generate press etc. Remember I only spent 5 grand on my movie so im not in a desperate position to make that money back. I plan on making sure that Bong not only becomes a success but that it also launches my name and allows me to be able to do more films. I am not a one hit wonder and I don’t plan on stopping anytime soon. I simply want whats best for the film and myself which is why I’m actually turning down some offers and asking others to hold off until I look at all the offers carefully. You should never jump into a decision that could affect the rest of your life without scrutinizing it to bits! Having a lawyer helps a great deal especially one who specializes in entertainment law. Now being a brokeass filmmaker means you probably cant afford one and neither can I quite honestly but Im lucky to have one through a family member so it helps a great deal. I have no advice on how to get one without going further into debt. I’m pretty sure you can get a one hour free consultation perhaps with a lawyer who actually cares. Pick their brains and see if its worth retaining one.

All in all I’m happy to be where I am right now where I can say yes or no or maybe to the offers coming forward. It lets me know that I’m on the right path and that there is great potential in my film. Remember though don’t be cocky just be realistic and honest. When I say be honest I mean be honest with the distribution comapnies you are dealing with and with yourself. Does your film have the potential to become the next “Blaire Witch Project” or “Open Water” or “Paranormal Activity” ? If you think it does and others who have seen it say it does then in the famous words from Fubar….”Giver!”

New trailer and website coming up soon so please check it out!

Thomas

Reaching out…

First of all I just want to say that I’m impressed with myself that I’m blogging 2 days in a row since the New Year and I have no reason to stop now! You can rest assured its not because I’m bored or don’t have enough to do as is. I guess I just felt the need to do this particular blog because I’m very excited today.

Last night I had made a small list of people to contact as of Monday and of course first on my list was “Call Robert Rodriguez”! Now its not like I have him on speed dial or anything so I had to find a legitimate phone number for Troublemaker Studio first! Luckily I have a friend who has an IMDB Pro account and he was able to provide me with the number and address within minutes. Anyhow I woke up this morning at 9AM and made the call to Texas which was 11AM their time and to my surprise a lovely secretary on the other end actually answered! I introduced myself and asked her if they had received my letters which I had sent 2 weeks ago and she asked who I had written them to. “Robert of course” I answered then she kindly informed me that he was not in the office at that moment but I was more than welcome to leave a voice message for his assistant then transferred my call. Once the voice mail kicked in and I heard the tone I left a brief message explaining who I was and I why it was important for Robert to check out my film and give me a few minutes of his time by visiting the website for Bong Of The Dead.

I will admit I felt nervous and scared about making such a call because I did not know what to expect. However I also knew that making such a phone call and reaching out to someone who has inspired me in my pursuit as a struggling filmmaker could be the best thing I could do for myself. At the end of the day whats the worse that could happen? In my letter I reached out to Robert Rodriguez and asked him to help me with my career same way someone had helped him way back when he was where I am today. I only wish that he would look inside himself and realize that he too was a struggling filmmaker once upon a time long ago trying to be heard and also had obstacles to overcome during his pursuit.

Ill wait a bit then try to call again and see if I get lucky and maybe I can tell him myself how I’m just trying to be heard and ask from one filmmaker to another if he would be willing to help me get discovered. I know I have what it takes, I just need someone who can make things happen notice!

No time to kick up the heels yet!

Well I thought that finishing my first feature film Bong Of The Dead would finally mean that I would get to take a nice break and breathe for a moment as the reality of being done settled in. It seems now that the movie is done I am onto a whole new adventure as I try and make meetings and phone calls. During the process of promoting the film I am of course in need of more print material for posters as well as other materials which I have to create all the artwork for at the same time. I’m so glad that I have the love,passion and skill set for graphic design and using photoshop! At least creating new posters and artwork to promote the film further is the fun part in all the legal business part of the journey.

I will admit that I wrote a letter to Robert Rodriguez at Troublemaker Studio in Texas with hopes that he gets it and pays attention to me. In order to ensure that he gets the letter I sent it to 3 different addresses which I had just in case any of them were fake. I’m just trying to reach out to someone I admire and want to be like and see if he answers….after all “You never know” and I am a firm believer that neither will you if you never ask! I’m just some guy in his basement trying to make it! I just need a bit of help in getting there. Its not like I cant carry my own.. I strongly know that I do have what it takes and have proved it with my first NO budget feature. Now if someone would please give a shit and allow me the opportunities that would be greatly appreciated. So Robert if you get those letters please give me a jingle and lets talk! Im sure I can find the time to chit chat:)

I will be updating the old web page and placing a whole new splash page and portal to the film. Im in the middle of creating all the art work and pages for the website coming soon! Once I get all that done I will hand it over to my Web PR Guru and he will take care of the rest. Keep an eye out for the new site updates!

Ill write down as soon as I have some new news.

Thomas

4,3,2,1….Count down starts!

Well it seems as if I have been stuck in a world of constant stress ever since I wrapped on my film 2 years ago. Some of my stress has been due to not having the man power to do a whole film in post. Other parts of the stress have had to do with learning new software and doing things Ive never done before and acquiring new skills I never thought I would need. The biggest part of the stress has been attributed to the constant paranoia and fear of losing the entire film that Ive devoted my entire 2 years to. I guess that little nightmare came true on the 11th but I’m not gonna go there so read the previous 2 blogs if you already haven’t. The wounds are still too fresh. BUT…since that incident I have become more confident and have had to pick myself back up and go at it again for the sake of the movie!

I am now scoring the entire film and am doing it in only 2 days! This is all the time I have for now before my Cuban side kick kicks my ass because I have not met his deadline and expectations. I am pretty sure I can meet his request and have the entire film scored by using everything I have in my “loops” library as well as any music I get submitted and acquisitioned or purchased. Wow just writing all the things I need to do for music it seems like yet another insane undertaking which once again I have no choice but to bare. However I do know a thing or two about music so I think I may impress even myself! Fingers crossed. The bonus of me doing all my own music on the film is that the music credit will read, Music by: THOMAS NEWMAN. Of course everyone will assume its the famous Thomas Newman that does all the major films in Hollywood.

Once I meet Andres’s deadline and get him the music for the entire film, he and I will be setting up camp for another 4 days from the 26th-29th! This time will be used for us to mix and master the entire film! Andres has already performed miracles when he set up “ADR camp” at my studio and we banged out an entire film recording all actors dialogue again. He then did the amazing job of mixing all the tracks with the sound FX as well as folly. Once we complete “Sound Camp” the film should be complete 2 weeks into December!

The count down to the finale begins on the 26th!

The count down begins!

Well, I cant believe I’m about to write an actual date which Bong will be done by! It has been an incredibly exhausting trip from day one of pre production to filming and then especially post. I must say I have had more near death experiences while in post than I did during pre and actual filming of the film itself. I guess the majority of my stress has come from bizarre software related issues in post which caused my film to not be accessible at some point or another. The amount of technical glitches and mishaps were honestly enough to make me want to quit many times and find the nearest bridge! However having been through many sleepless nights which blurred into days then weeks, I can say that it has been worth it. I never expected to take a film which I shot for only 5 thousand dollars and then turn around and make it look like a couple million all in post. The truth is I have done my best with what I have had available and I believe Ive succeeded in proving that I can do it. Along the way I have made a few new close friends and lost a few but some how through it all I managed to end up exactly where Im supposed to. Im glad to have had the help and support of all my friends and family who contributed their efforts to help me pursue my passion and dream. The film will be finished at the end of this month and ready to hit the circuits. November 30 th is the official completion date of Bong Of The Dead. Since I am at the end almost I decided to celebrate by designing a final film release poster which I will post here. Its almost the same as the last one but has a lot more grit. Ill keep you posted!

Bong Of The Dead Film Release poster

What a week!

Its been a crazy few weeks as I worked my ass off towards meeting a ridiculous deadline for two events at the same time! The first was the first time “Dead on Film” Rio theater zombie film festival which I had promised myself not to enter but could not resist since its the only zombie specific film festival Vancouver has to offer! Yes its a first time event but I know a good thing when I see it and I think this festival will get bigger as years go by. The reason I hate entering these stupid competitions is because the winners at these events are generally selected by other stupid people. Before you get your panties in a knot and bite my head off for sounding like an asshole please allow me to explain.

These competitions are no different then Halloween costume party contests! By that I mean its usually a place where a bunch of drunk and stoned individuals get together to watch some trippy shit that makes them laugh even though its probably not even funny. Then everyone gets to vote based on how many friends you have in the audience or how drunk the guy beside you was when he selected “Pissing doll” because it was great hand held camera work by a couple amateur stoners who thought it would be funny to shoot and place on you tube! Along comes a festival hell lets enter it! If these things were actually judged by a panel of experts who actually know what quality looks like and understand the process and can tell that a single shot may have taken a person 3 months to compile, then they would be worth entering. I think once again I am going back to the Fuck silly competitions and concentrate on the bigger picture.

Now that Im done venting lets talk about a much better day that definitely helped people know about Bong! The 2010 Vancouver Zombie walk kicked off on the 21st on a beautiful sunny day and was lead by the Bong OF The Dead cast as we marched down the street with a banner held up high! Lots of pictures on my face book wall posted by everyone so feel free to take a peak! Here is a couple cool ones of us leading about 6000 people on the march!

Bong OF The Dead March!

Leading the pack!

Finaly 260 shots done!!!

So it has been one year and a bit since Ive been stuck in the dark confines of my theater slash Office where every second of my life has been dedicated to finishing my film entirely by myself now that in post! At the rate of 30 frames per second and shots varying from 1.5 seconds to 18 seconds long you can imagine the amount of work involved in trying to complete this movie when adding 260 shots which required compositing!

Through it all I have changed immensely not just as a Producer/Director but as an individual all together. Ive discovered who my true friends are and who are not. I feel a lot more knowledgeable of my craft now then ever since I had to submerge myself into editing and composting and learning software that is new to me in order to make it all possible. I can finally look back at all the hard work it took right from the start when I set out with to make a movie for only $5000. Had it not been for my loyal friends and family I would not have been bale to pull it off by spending so little and getting so much. Im now hoping to have the film done sometime in October as I push forward with Audio part of the project which deals with some rerecording of actors dialogues, sound FX and music.

I will hopefully have a new official trailer and some new mini documentary footage coming soon!

Thanks
Thomas

Big thank you to Video Copilot and Andrew Kramer!!

Its been over a year since I’ve been working on Bong OF The Dead grinding away and learning some new tricks as I push forward. One of the biggest challenges for my movie was not having the budget to get the exact shots I wanted with exact locations during the filming process. However knowing that I was limited in the real world was not at all discouraging given the proper tools for post production. I was guided to a great website called Video Copilot which was founded by one of the coolest and most original Digital video Production gurus known to man! Im talking about Andrew Kramer the man who has dedicated a web site to the art and technique of post digital effects. The web site is not only incredibly helpful for learning great FREE techniques for creating stunning visual effects, but also an incredible resource for independent Film makers such as myself who have the ideas but not the budget. I have learned so many incredible techniques from Andrew Kramer, that with out him this film would not be possible. The film itself cost me 15K but the look and feel I am able to create by using Andrew Kramers online tutorials has given it the big budget look I was going for. Here is a small sample of a scene in which the heroes are preparing for war against the hordes of zombies to come. I had initially hung a homemade green screen beside the cabin we were filming at in order to hide cars and the house in the background. By using the techniques I have learned from Andrew Kramer I was able to remove the background and place in a deep wooded forest in order to make them seem isolated.

Before shot with green screen in background.

Forest with no lighting.

Final composite with Tommy as he walks out of cabin in battle gear.

Creating some cool advertisement for Bong Of The Dead!

Hello to all you fellow Bongers! Its been a while since Ive posted here but its because I am unbelievably busy with editing and creating the final look of Bong Of The Dead. There is literally so much to say so instead of writing it all here I encourage you to check out the Tweets and Blogs which you can access right fr…om here:

http://www.bongofthedead.com/blog/

Most recently I got together with my Co-Producer and great Friend Mike Fields who surprised me with a totally cool design for the new Bong shirts! My jaw dropped the second I saw the shirts and jumped at the opportunity to get them made so that we could get the message out to the world while trying to raise a few bucks in order to pay for more shirts! Basically everyone who is a fan and wants to help support this film can purchase a shirt for $20 and the money raised will just buy more shirts. The circle will continue until the entire world is infected!! You cant be a real zombie if you don’t have a shirt! The coolest thing aside from the designs on the shirt is the fact that they were each hand made by Mike Fields himself and me. Every one has tremendous TLC go into it so you will be happy if you chose to sport one of these limited shirts. The more we get out into the world the more people will know about this special indie flick that will blow them all away! I am working towards a realistic deadline now to submit to an upcoming few festivals! As always please keep in mind the reason its taking a year and a half or more is because I am only one person doing an entire film by myself in my basement just like my mentor Robert Rodriguez. Only difference between Robert and myself is I dont have millions of dollars or a post crew. Not yet anyways!

So in closing if you want a shirt please send me an e-mail or a note and I can figure out how to get one to you with payment process and things. Also please help keep the Bong lit by telling as many people as you can about it so that they too end up infected! Bong has now spread across over 87 countries around the world and been translated into 13 languages on the web with promo material downloadable in over 4 major languages.

Keep on Bonging!

Sincerely
Thomas Newman

New limitted Bong OF The Dead shirts!

Another beautiful day and all is well!

I may have come across a bit negative in my last post so I want to make up for it in this one. As frustrating as the process of doing an entire film on your own is, it is still worth every second especially when the results speak for themselves. I’m plugging away on the last of the CGI shots this week and will move onto the final stages of color correction on the locked edit. Once I’ve completed those two main components it will be time to round up the actors for some ADR. For those that are not familiar with the term “ADR”, it is the process in which you have to redo some of the dialogue of your film in a studio environment because your sound guy was so stoned during the filming that he actually recorded static at times instead of audio. Thanks sound guy! Luckily I now have one of the best sound designers that the Vancouver industry has ever seen and we will be working together closely to make the ADR as best as we can. I’m trying to make a few festival deadlines so the pressure is on to have this beast done and released asap. Theres nothing more satisfying then having your film come together after all the countless hours of work that’s been put into it.
Thanks for staying in tune!