Peculiar situations of the fanfilm maker...

Hi everyone...

I've created this thread for people to share their bizarre tales in their efforts to make fanfilms.

My upcoming film has an action sequence where I fight my brother in a rather picturesque location. I had taken a set of pictures of the location to show off, and one of the shots was so nice I set it as my desktop wallpaper in the lab.

We have long since filmed the fight scene, and I'm rotoing it now - but today my supervisor was in the lab, saw the wallpaper and commented "That's a nice picture... Where's that?"

My response without thinking was "Oh, that's where I killed my brother."

My supervisor's eyes bugged out to the point where it was quite obvious he thought he was in the room with a murderer. "WHAT??!?!?!" I was suprised, since he knew I was working on the film... so clarification didn't take long. But I don't think I've ever shocked someone that much before.

Got similar situtations? Do tell...

-Spiff

 

Nope... nothing like that before... but that is a good tale

 

I've got one for you. You have to be at a convention.. oh we'll just say DRAGONCON in a few hours cause they're showing your movie. Your video capture card has worked perfectly for 3 years and then mysteriously for no particular reason it chooses the time you actually need it to work to malfunction making it impossible to have your tape ready in time for the showing.... Damn you PINNACLE!

 

Yeah, I have heard a certain little elf cough*Melvin*cough has been known to get very drunk at parties.

 

And the lesson we've learned is to make sure your dubs are done WAY on advance...

However, I was within 15 minutes of the hotel Friday (and NOT about to turn around and drive back) when I realized I'd left my VHS backup (in case th D*C video rooms couldn't handle DVD) of the Official Babylon 5 Music Videos in the VCR at home... d'oh!
Luckily, I was able to call home from the road and get Heather to run the tape over to the post office and overnight it... AND call the station and have them run another dub and overnight THAT one as well, so I knew I'd at least get one of them in time...

Fenn

 

DAZZLE forever!

EDIT: Doh! I was talkin on MSN and so I was late.

 

I would've made the tape earlier, but I wanted to get the new trailer on there and rendering at such high quality takes a long long time.

I'm getting a new card. You recommend a Dazzle?

 

I thought Dazzle was for analog. If you are going digital I would think that AD Pyro would be a good choice.

On topic again... I just find it hard explaining exactly what a FanFilm is all the time. I've stopped telling people at this point... Tired of the blank stares.

 

When showing ROGUE at COMICON a few years ago, we had DVD and VHS backups. BOTH OF COMICONs MACHINES failed! We finally got that ironed out (after about a 20 minute intermission with Q&A stalling - in which the MICS FAILED)!

Murphy's got nothin' on Team ROGUE!

 

Giggle Semaj.

I think I have had more peculiar spots doing the fanfilm thing than I care to admit. A couple that pop up is at a sci-fi con, I have footage of Peter Mayhew and Jeremy Bulloch watching AQOF 1, and at the time I thought it was generally well recieved, especially by Bulloch. When going back over the footage, I can see Mayhew lean over to Bulloch and mumble something. I swear he says "pretty bad, isnt it?" but there's too much going on to tell. I'm pretty sure thats what he said.

Was at Lone Star Comics outlet once showing the movie and was standing nearby when my brother and I had noticed an old man was peering over the comics rack to get a view. It just so happens that it was the point where the Sith apprentice loses his head. The look on that old man's face was priceless. He then left.

Then there's always watching your co-star get arrested during filming.
We tried to make sure the Grapevine police did full cavity searches on him, but it's funny how police can't take a joke. So after that we always had some couple of suit and tie cops watching us out in the middle of nowhere as I remember instead of sending the ol blue's, and I think as it turned out we gave those two detectives a copy, and they ended up coming out to watch us work at MT. Not criminals now, ARE WE?

 

Jared: I just tell them it's a movie based on star wars.


It's funny when your friends hear that you're a Star Wars geek and think nothing of it...and then come into your room to find your prop lightsabers all over the place (literally all over the place if you are in the middle of building them). Or when you're at lowe's buying saber parts and you're looking for that SPECIFIC piece and they look at you like you're an idiot and ask you what you need it for...

 

I actually MADE my brother get a job at Lowe's so I could get a discount on my saber parts! He wanted to work at Sam Goody's but I wasn't havin' it!!!



Sage H.

 

My brother pulls that and I get the job and charge him DOUBLE!

 

Since we're on the topic of jobs: I hope I get hired at our new theater. Just think of how many time I get to see EpIII !

 

Unless you get fired BEFORE May 2005 and they don't let you back in... Then, you're what I like to call 'screwed to the ground'...



Sage H.

 

You see... Lightsabers all over the place is one thing.

Back in undergrad I had a roommate who felt compelled to use my laser printer, as well as entertain his group members with the same service. I'm a bit of a martial arts nut, and have a ton of implements of destruction around.

My personal favourite for "looks" is a set of competition kama that have vented steel blades and sort of a "batwing" lower serrated edge. Kama, for those not in the know, are a pair of razor sharp sickles used to gore people... Typical techniques involve disembowlment, decapitation and appendage remvoval. Mine are not sharpened, but look it. I also have sai, tonfa, staffs, boken, shinais and a variety of other toys lying around.

Anyway, I had a wimpy coat hook in my room that couldn't hold a coat for the life of it, so I hung my kama on the wall. When one of the particular group members happened to walk in my room he nearly flipped out... Came running out in fear.

Better make it obvious to the next girl I have over that I'm not some psycho... Not a great first impression. I think I'll avoid the "brother" description for that particular wallpaper as well!

-Spiff

 

Kamas, how cute.

 

Read Terry Pratchett? You could make Mort's coat of arms pretty easily...

...Best moment in preproduction for mine was going to the local Target and picking up three rolls of fluorescent duct tape, a rasp, two tubes of superglue and a set of practice golf balls...the lady at the counter looked at me very strangely...

 

'You see the weirdest things at Wal*Mart. You'll see, for example, a fat woman with a douche, a lawn chair, and a tub of whipped cream...you wonderr which she came for in the first place.'

-Ellen