5.15.2009
More Time Lapse Tests
These are tests for the High Dynamic Range function of the still camera. Basically, the idea is that you can see both the shadows and the highlights in the same image instead of having something over or under exposed. It's a little tricky to get to work, but it's all figured out now. These are lame, but more to come!
5.14.2009
A couple rough rough rough tests
Testing the auto timelapse feature of our new camera
Continuous still frame shooting test.
Both of these are very raw. I will upload some more tests soon. Things have been very busy testing out all the equipment, but I will write more soon.
5.11.2009
Workin on that movie
Apologies for the delayed post. Severe computer failure (a virus deleted every program and document… twice – there were backups), final exams, moving out, graduation weekend, saying goodbye to friends, and travel has slowed down progress a little bit, but here’s what’s been going on:
We have a composer! Richey Rynkowski is signed on to the project. About 100 people have inquired about the position. Many are qualified and enthusiastic. We originally planned to hold auditions – and I told this to Richey. However, he proceeded with the opportunity as if he was already the official composer. He made three songs tailored to the music for this film (the soundtrack to the script). His songs are all great (listen below) and give a taste of what’s to come. He is both talented and hardworking. We get along great and have the same tastes in music.
Tony and I have to develop the social media front. We have a Linked In account (www.linkedin/in/kentonbartlett), a twitter account (www.twitter.com/kentonbartlett), and we have Facebook back (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kenton-Bartlett-Movie/74342639138?ref=ts)! We are re-building our online presence for sure. A MySpace page is coming soon.
The website (www.KentonBartlett.com) is re-designed. The homepage and page backgrounds are the main differences. See pics below.
Craig’s List created new spam filters to block folks like us. The new hurdles are tricky, and I thought we would have to resort to other means of virally spreading the word, but we just developed a new plan to circumvent the new smart filters. We will post onwards!
We are going to forego the film stock donation for logistic, visual, and expenditure reasons.
Christie and I drafted a letter to send for food sponsorships. Christie and Hannah are looking for the contact info for establishments around Birmingham.
Many more e-mails arrive every day with new and different leads – from offers to help, potential investors, interested crew members, and questions from actors. Fielding the e-mails and following up with everyone is a top priority. We’ll keep you up to date on promising developments, but it’s hard to list every single lead.
Casting is moving forward. More auditions are coming in every day. Fenix is working full time on it, and two of my acting friends are interested in helping out full-time as well.
This week will be all about making up for lost time and start working with the mound of equipment we’ve been ordering for the past month.
We didn’t win the screenplay award (the third draft was submitted) and haven’t heard back from the movie studio.
We have a composer! Richey Rynkowski is signed on to the project. About 100 people have inquired about the position. Many are qualified and enthusiastic. We originally planned to hold auditions – and I told this to Richey. However, he proceeded with the opportunity as if he was already the official composer. He made three songs tailored to the music for this film (the soundtrack to the script). His songs are all great (listen below) and give a taste of what’s to come. He is both talented and hardworking. We get along great and have the same tastes in music.
Tony and I have to develop the social media front. We have a Linked In account (www.linkedin/in/kentonbartlett), a twitter account (www.twitter.com/kentonbartlett), and we have Facebook back (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kenton-Bartlett-Movie/74342639138?ref=ts)! We are re-building our online presence for sure. A MySpace page is coming soon.
The website (www.KentonBartlett.com) is re-designed. The homepage and page backgrounds are the main differences. See pics below.
Craig’s List created new spam filters to block folks like us. The new hurdles are tricky, and I thought we would have to resort to other means of virally spreading the word, but we just developed a new plan to circumvent the new smart filters. We will post onwards!
We are going to forego the film stock donation for logistic, visual, and expenditure reasons.
Christie and I drafted a letter to send for food sponsorships. Christie and Hannah are looking for the contact info for establishments around Birmingham.
Many more e-mails arrive every day with new and different leads – from offers to help, potential investors, interested crew members, and questions from actors. Fielding the e-mails and following up with everyone is a top priority. We’ll keep you up to date on promising developments, but it’s hard to list every single lead.
Casting is moving forward. More auditions are coming in every day. Fenix is working full time on it, and two of my acting friends are interested in helping out full-time as well.
This week will be all about making up for lost time and start working with the mound of equipment we’ve been ordering for the past month.
We didn’t win the screenplay award (the third draft was submitted) and haven’t heard back from the movie studio.
Social Media - Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn
Updated website
Our LinkedIn page: http://www.linkedin.com/in/kentonbartlett
Our Twitter Page: http://twitter.com/KentonBartlett
Our Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kenton-Bartlett-Movie/74342639138?ref=ts
5.06.2009
Richey Rynkowski Draft Composition - Love Theme
We have an official composer! Richey Rynkowski is an extremely devoted, talented, and hard-working music maker living in the UK. Listen to this song and the ones below. These are a few ideas without much direction or collaboration - and these tunes were created without being signed on to the project (proactiveness pays off always).
5.01.2009
IMDB! Student Short Film
We are on IMDB! Go to www.imdb.com, then search "Kenton Bartlett" or "Student Short Film" and pages will come up.
Or, click these links:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1414278/
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3400082/
4.29.2009
Celebrity Casting, Equipment Purchasing, and Fourth Draft
This week has been filled mostly with detailed equipment research and purchases, script writing, e-mail answering, and casting contact work.
It’s pretty boring to write about the equipment purchases (or too lengthy to read about), but very time consuming. I will post pictures and final lists later. Long story short – we have the equipment to record a movie! Packages are being ordered and other packages are arriving every day.
We have finalized our 100 actors casting list, their letters, produced all the puzzles, created every website, and my mom is organizing the shipments. She is folding, packaging, and sending them off in the next couple weeks. Our friend, Cathy Tracy, knows calligraphy and is penning the addresses of as many as possible to help draw attention to the packages and get the opened.
The fourth draft is finished! The third draft drifted a little off course in making so many drastic changes, but the fourth draft fixed them and made it stronger.
The script (third draft) was nominated for an AWARD at American University. It is the end-of-the year competition for undergraduate and graduate students in the School of Communications. It is very competitive, and we will find out the results Friday.
The generous folks over at Tryptonaut Pictures offered to donate 27,000 feet of Kodak 500T 35mm film stock (about $2,000 worth!). That records many hours of professional footage. If we can find a way to use the film without impacting our budget, we will be able to accept the donation and make something cool.
We are waiting to hear back from the kind person with a possible movie studio lead (should hear something tomorrow).
Web traffic is up to about 7,000 visitors this month. We are about to break the maximum web hits allowed for my current website ownership plan.
I post in 30 Craig’s List cities every two days.
A music supervisor offered to come on board and raise money to pay for music licensing fees and his own salary. That’s an offer no one can refuse. I will write more when things are confirmed.
It’s pretty boring to write about the equipment purchases (or too lengthy to read about), but very time consuming. I will post pictures and final lists later. Long story short – we have the equipment to record a movie! Packages are being ordered and other packages are arriving every day.
We have finalized our 100 actors casting list, their letters, produced all the puzzles, created every website, and my mom is organizing the shipments. She is folding, packaging, and sending them off in the next couple weeks. Our friend, Cathy Tracy, knows calligraphy and is penning the addresses of as many as possible to help draw attention to the packages and get the opened.
The fourth draft is finished! The third draft drifted a little off course in making so many drastic changes, but the fourth draft fixed them and made it stronger.
The script (third draft) was nominated for an AWARD at American University. It is the end-of-the year competition for undergraduate and graduate students in the School of Communications. It is very competitive, and we will find out the results Friday.
The generous folks over at Tryptonaut Pictures offered to donate 27,000 feet of Kodak 500T 35mm film stock (about $2,000 worth!). That records many hours of professional footage. If we can find a way to use the film without impacting our budget, we will be able to accept the donation and make something cool.
We are waiting to hear back from the kind person with a possible movie studio lead (should hear something tomorrow).
Web traffic is up to about 7,000 visitors this month. We are about to break the maximum web hits allowed for my current website ownership plan.
I post in 30 Craig’s List cities every two days.
A music supervisor offered to come on board and raise money to pay for music licensing fees and his own salary. That’s an offer no one can refuse. I will write more when things are confirmed.
Front Page Story
Our story was on the front page of American University’s website: www.american.edu. It is gone now though, so here’s a screen capture of it.
4.23.2009
Major Studio, equipment, new crew, celebrities,
One extremely kind individual offered to pitch the project to his friend in a high-ranking position at a major film studio (cannot disclose the studio at the moment) and two interested producers.
Over 1,500 casting applicants. Audition tapes are starting to trickle in.
We have a makeup artist! Sarah-Beth Alfree has already arranged a makeup sponsorship and an assistant (Scott Forrester) to cover the hair and makeup of the film. Both Sarah-Beth and Scott live in Birmingham.
We have a Social Media Consultant as well. My friend, Tony Romm is an experienced journalist and has offered his help spreading the word through creative online mediums.
Equipment orders are in full swing. The sound equipment deals have been arranged. The list price of our equipment is $6,380, and we are getting it for $2,917. This is thanks to James Lunsford’s smart equipment research and Sennheiser’s generous deal.
The Red Camera is in shipment. This week, we also ordered 3 lenses, a hard drive, a package of 50 glass camera filters, a tripod, and professional equipment cases. I will post details and pictures of equipment down the road to serve as a reference for anyone interested.
Several interested investors have contacted me to read the script.
Southwest said no to the project as is, but they are excited to work together if the film develops into a project with more promise of distribution (i.e. if a celebrity signs on).
I got kicked off Facebook for promoting the movie too hard. Even though this is an annoyance, I see it as a crowning victory to extreme promotion (and hopefully no one was annoyed in the process. (They have agreed to let me back on under a personal account with terms of cooperation).
We finished up the celebrity letter and celebrity production information and are ready to distribute the puzzle packages.
Accomplished actor and Vestavia Hills community member, Michael Papajohn (the robber in Spiderman) has agreed to help out with the film. We are going to talk more next week.
The fourth draft of the screenplay is underway (after a third draft consulting session with my smart professor, Claudia Myers).
Craig’s List posting is the #1 reason for most of these developments.
Over 1,500 casting applicants. Audition tapes are starting to trickle in.
We have a makeup artist! Sarah-Beth Alfree has already arranged a makeup sponsorship and an assistant (Scott Forrester) to cover the hair and makeup of the film. Both Sarah-Beth and Scott live in Birmingham.
We have a Social Media Consultant as well. My friend, Tony Romm is an experienced journalist and has offered his help spreading the word through creative online mediums.
Equipment orders are in full swing. The sound equipment deals have been arranged. The list price of our equipment is $6,380, and we are getting it for $2,917. This is thanks to James Lunsford’s smart equipment research and Sennheiser’s generous deal.
The Red Camera is in shipment. This week, we also ordered 3 lenses, a hard drive, a package of 50 glass camera filters, a tripod, and professional equipment cases. I will post details and pictures of equipment down the road to serve as a reference for anyone interested.
Several interested investors have contacted me to read the script.
Southwest said no to the project as is, but they are excited to work together if the film develops into a project with more promise of distribution (i.e. if a celebrity signs on).
I got kicked off Facebook for promoting the movie too hard. Even though this is an annoyance, I see it as a crowning victory to extreme promotion (and hopefully no one was annoyed in the process. (They have agreed to let me back on under a personal account with terms of cooperation).
We finished up the celebrity letter and celebrity production information and are ready to distribute the puzzle packages.
Accomplished actor and Vestavia Hills community member, Michael Papajohn (the robber in Spiderman) has agreed to help out with the film. We are going to talk more next week.
The fourth draft of the screenplay is underway (after a third draft consulting session with my smart professor, Claudia Myers).
Craig’s List posting is the #1 reason for most of these developments.
4.21.2009
4.18.2009
Red One Order (Serial)
We ordered the Red One camera yesterday and received our camera number! It's a christening of sorts in the industry. I will post the full list of what Red equipment we ordered and the price paid when all orders are complete.
Steven Poster Shoot
John is working with Steven Poster (Donnie Darko cinematographer) on a documentary, and John needed someone to cover for a couple hours. I didn't work too long, but working with their crew is a great opportunity for John, and I certainly learned a lot in the brief time I was there.
Look at Steven Poster's work here:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0692925/
4.15.2009
Casting is working, PR, sound decisions, and composing
Casting is working! We have over 1,000 applicants!
We tried a new tactic – Craig’s List (online classifieds). I tried it a while ago, but my posts were deleted because you cannot post the same post twice, and you cannot post in more than one city. To make a long story short, we circumvented the spam filter and can now post all over the country. So far we have contacted only 60 cities. There are plenty more cities around the US, and we can always re-post, so needless to say, the doors are wide open for casting!
Fenix and I have developed a more streamlined audition process and means of auto-responding to applicants. We would prefer to be personable, but it’s simply not possible at this point.
Along with inquiring actors, we have had many telephone calls and e-mails from people who want to help the project (casting assistants, production assistants, make up artists, more composers, sound designers, equipment company owners… even a trick rope rodeo person and a craft services provider!)
The celebrity casting is moving forward as well. Will’s package design is finished! It’s attached below. My parents printed it out, and my mom is cutting and folding each of the packages.
Christie finished her second draft of the celebrity letter and is working on the third. It’s coming right along.
Amanda (PR) is working on the public relations campaign. She is very busy this week, but she contacted two newspapers and will get back to me soon with phone interviews for journalists. She will also respond soon with the proper contact information to get in touch with celebrities so we can send out the packages.
This week, we are ordering the Red Camera! It should arrive in a couple weeks. John has his first hands-on experience with the camera this week in his cinematography, so at least we aren’t buying blind. We are making more ‘buy’ decisions every day.
Our sound consultant, James Lunsford has been working full-time on the project for the past month. We have not mentioned his involvement as we were not certain if he would be able to be the sound designer. He has developed the equipment purchase list for audio and is working on finalizing our purchase decisions (taking from quotes from five sources – including Sennheiser).
A very talented and pro-active composer, Richey Rynkowski won’t listen to my plea to “wait for composer auditions.” He is taking charge of this project and composing music anyway. He sent two songs based on the online cues at www.kentonbartlett.com/script. They sound GREAT! I’ve attached them below so you can listen. He put two days of work into these songs knowing that composing was premature. He is also well connected with a conductor and a performing orchestra and offered to pay for live recording of his score. Even though we can’t promise anything at this point, this is the kind of determination that stands out.
After the first two songs, he said he wanted to compose more original songs. If he’s going to go against advice of waiting for auditions and work on the music full time, then I feel it’s my responsibility to give him instruction. I sent over several musical references, and he is working full-steam on some new songs. He is obviously very determined, and we are very excited to hear more of his work!
We keep sending out more e-mails to ask for help from a variety of places, and we will keep you updated on any leads.
We tried a new tactic – Craig’s List (online classifieds). I tried it a while ago, but my posts were deleted because you cannot post the same post twice, and you cannot post in more than one city. To make a long story short, we circumvented the spam filter and can now post all over the country. So far we have contacted only 60 cities. There are plenty more cities around the US, and we can always re-post, so needless to say, the doors are wide open for casting!
Fenix and I have developed a more streamlined audition process and means of auto-responding to applicants. We would prefer to be personable, but it’s simply not possible at this point.
Along with inquiring actors, we have had many telephone calls and e-mails from people who want to help the project (casting assistants, production assistants, make up artists, more composers, sound designers, equipment company owners… even a trick rope rodeo person and a craft services provider!)
The celebrity casting is moving forward as well. Will’s package design is finished! It’s attached below. My parents printed it out, and my mom is cutting and folding each of the packages.
Christie finished her second draft of the celebrity letter and is working on the third. It’s coming right along.
Amanda (PR) is working on the public relations campaign. She is very busy this week, but she contacted two newspapers and will get back to me soon with phone interviews for journalists. She will also respond soon with the proper contact information to get in touch with celebrities so we can send out the packages.
This week, we are ordering the Red Camera! It should arrive in a couple weeks. John has his first hands-on experience with the camera this week in his cinematography, so at least we aren’t buying blind. We are making more ‘buy’ decisions every day.
Our sound consultant, James Lunsford has been working full-time on the project for the past month. We have not mentioned his involvement as we were not certain if he would be able to be the sound designer. He has developed the equipment purchase list for audio and is working on finalizing our purchase decisions (taking from quotes from five sources – including Sennheiser).
A very talented and pro-active composer, Richey Rynkowski won’t listen to my plea to “wait for composer auditions.” He is taking charge of this project and composing music anyway. He sent two songs based on the online cues at www.kentonbartlett.com/script. They sound GREAT! I’ve attached them below so you can listen. He put two days of work into these songs knowing that composing was premature. He is also well connected with a conductor and a performing orchestra and offered to pay for live recording of his score. Even though we can’t promise anything at this point, this is the kind of determination that stands out.
After the first two songs, he said he wanted to compose more original songs. If he’s going to go against advice of waiting for auditions and work on the music full time, then I feel it’s my responsibility to give him instruction. I sent over several musical references, and he is working full-steam on some new songs. He is obviously very determined, and we are very excited to hear more of his work!
We keep sending out more e-mails to ask for help from a variety of places, and we will keep you updated on any leads.
Richey Rynkowski - Original Compositions
Richey Rynkowski's first original composition based on the 23 songs that correspond to the script. He was pro-active and composed prior to the composer audition.
Richey Rynkowski's second original composition.
4.13.2009
Final Package Design
Will's final package design. My dad printed them, and my mom is cutting, folding, packaging, and sending them out as soon as we get the addresses.
New Celebrity Casting Site Design
The re-vamped celebrity casting site to be consistent with Will's final package design. http://www.missingpiecescasting.com/johnnydepp.
4.07.2009
Newsy News
Some big news… My friend, neighbor, and ex-babysitter, Amanda Leesburg started and runs a very successful Public Relations company in Atlanta. I contacted her to see if she could help find someone to help with casting and with PR… she offered to help on the project immediately!
She represented Jane Fonda last year, and is responsible for Animal Planet, Jeff Corwin, some Nike accounts, and helped cast the TV show, America’s Got Talent. She is extremely friendly and connected, and she offered to post the casting call around the internet, talk with her friends in the industry, hold casting sessions for us (announced through radio) in Atlanta and in Birminhgam. She is also very connected in the celebrity circuit and is going to help attract celebrities to the project. After discussing the possibility of working with celebrities, she said it was highly probable that we could get some people on board!
The script is now registered with the Writer’s Guild of America!
Fenix is hard at work on casting. We finalized audition plans, script excerpts, and the casting form. We should be getting some audition tapes in very soon. We gathered a list of about 20 websites and e-mail list-serves to post our casting call on, and that should also increase responses.
Christie and I are still working on drafting letters for celebrities. We had two versions and sent out for votes on which angle people liked better. She took the feedback and is working on a new version.
Friends are still sending e-mails out to help with the casting.
The puzzles are in! Our first 25 puzzles have been delivered for packaging prep, and they look great. Will is almost done with the packaging, and they will be ready to send out as soon as the letters, addresses, and customized websites are in place.
Southwest airlines should get back by the end of the week with their decision on helping with the project.
I talked to the Birmingham film commissioner this week on the phone. He finished the script, liked it, and wants to help see it through. He walked me through a list of about 15 questions I made up. He cleared a lot of things up and is working on the project to help us out in securing locations and making production run smoothly.
John and I honing in our equipment decisions, and we have contacted several professionals to get their feedback and guidance on the project.
We have a comprehensive sound equipment list created by our prospective sound designer, James Lunsford. He has been an enormous help on the project! He came up with an equipment list spreadsheet and got quotes from about four different places. Our budget for sound is $3,000, and his product list came in at $2,994. He’s awesome. We sent out his product list to another place in the DC area for a second opinion.
Also, my former sound professor/friend/sound consultant, Greg Smith is selling his extra-long boom pole (usually sells for about $600) to us for $100!
She represented Jane Fonda last year, and is responsible for Animal Planet, Jeff Corwin, some Nike accounts, and helped cast the TV show, America’s Got Talent. She is extremely friendly and connected, and she offered to post the casting call around the internet, talk with her friends in the industry, hold casting sessions for us (announced through radio) in Atlanta and in Birminhgam. She is also very connected in the celebrity circuit and is going to help attract celebrities to the project. After discussing the possibility of working with celebrities, she said it was highly probable that we could get some people on board!
The script is now registered with the Writer’s Guild of America!
Fenix is hard at work on casting. We finalized audition plans, script excerpts, and the casting form. We should be getting some audition tapes in very soon. We gathered a list of about 20 websites and e-mail list-serves to post our casting call on, and that should also increase responses.
Christie and I are still working on drafting letters for celebrities. We had two versions and sent out for votes on which angle people liked better. She took the feedback and is working on a new version.
Friends are still sending e-mails out to help with the casting.
The puzzles are in! Our first 25 puzzles have been delivered for packaging prep, and they look great. Will is almost done with the packaging, and they will be ready to send out as soon as the letters, addresses, and customized websites are in place.
Southwest airlines should get back by the end of the week with their decision on helping with the project.
I talked to the Birmingham film commissioner this week on the phone. He finished the script, liked it, and wants to help see it through. He walked me through a list of about 15 questions I made up. He cleared a lot of things up and is working on the project to help us out in securing locations and making production run smoothly.
John and I honing in our equipment decisions, and we have contacted several professionals to get their feedback and guidance on the project.
We have a comprehensive sound equipment list created by our prospective sound designer, James Lunsford. He has been an enormous help on the project! He came up with an equipment list spreadsheet and got quotes from about four different places. Our budget for sound is $3,000, and his product list came in at $2,994. He’s awesome. We sent out his product list to another place in the DC area for a second opinion.
Also, my former sound professor/friend/sound consultant, Greg Smith is selling his extra-long boom pole (usually sells for about $600) to us for $100!
Film Pitch Video
Even though this is humiliating, it may be of interest in documenting the film. This is a final project presentation for business class. To make it fit with the class, I adapted this film to be pitched as part of a long-term, 5-film partnership with Lionsgate Entertainment. I wanted to take it seriously to prepare for possible studio pitches in the future.
4.02.2009
Third Draft and More
The third draft is finished! You can read it online at www.kentonbartlett.com/script. Two new songs for this draft are que 10 and que 17. E-mail me for the track-changes version.
Casting is moving along. Several friends have signed up to take charge of contacting institutions within a single state. We used a Facebook group to get people involved with it. We have had about 30 responses from interested actors/actresses. So far it’s been mainly friends, but several professional thespians have inquired.
We sent off the first 25 puzzles for production, and they will arrive in approximately two weeks. Will is finalizing the packaging designs so we can send them out. Christie submitted a draft of the letter to celebrities, and she is sending two more drafts tonight. By next week, we should have a finalized version and direction for how to go about sending these letters.
We posted an ad for used equipment on the Red Camera user forum. We have gotten several responses and advice on how to go about procuring equipment for production.
Abbott had her first chance to shine on the legal front this week. She drafted a professional, thorough, 4-page contract to be used in signing on our sound designer. We will slightly modify the contract for other crew members, but it was important to make the contract for the new person because we are essentially strangers and have not worked together in the past.
I spoke to Southwest Airlines brand manager. She said they would consider helping on the project if we included a scene involving airlines. I added the scene, sent the third draft over, and we should hear back from them soon with their decision. Hopefully we can get some free flights!
John and I have been doing a lot of heavy research to really figure out what we do and do not need so we can have our final purchase decision in the next couple weeks.
Casting is moving along. Several friends have signed up to take charge of contacting institutions within a single state. We used a Facebook group to get people involved with it. We have had about 30 responses from interested actors/actresses. So far it’s been mainly friends, but several professional thespians have inquired.
We sent off the first 25 puzzles for production, and they will arrive in approximately two weeks. Will is finalizing the packaging designs so we can send them out. Christie submitted a draft of the letter to celebrities, and she is sending two more drafts tonight. By next week, we should have a finalized version and direction for how to go about sending these letters.
We posted an ad for used equipment on the Red Camera user forum. We have gotten several responses and advice on how to go about procuring equipment for production.
Abbott had her first chance to shine on the legal front this week. She drafted a professional, thorough, 4-page contract to be used in signing on our sound designer. We will slightly modify the contract for other crew members, but it was important to make the contract for the new person because we are essentially strangers and have not worked together in the past.
I spoke to Southwest Airlines brand manager. She said they would consider helping on the project if we included a scene involving airlines. I added the scene, sent the third draft over, and we should hear back from them soon with their decision. Hopefully we can get some free flights!
John and I have been doing a lot of heavy research to really figure out what we do and do not need so we can have our final purchase decision in the next couple weeks.
Fundable Collection Over
Our Fundable collection ended. We only raised $390 out of the $10,000 goal.
3.30.2009
Kogod Success Story (article)
Kogod Success Story (just the article, video coming soon) - click on the image to read, or visit http://www.american.edu/kogod/success/ksb_student_kenton_bartlett.cfm
Kogod Success Story (just the article, video coming soon)
3.26.2009
3.25.2009
Raising the bar
Today John is riding around in a car with the cinematographer from Donnie Darko! It’s quite surreal, but the professional cinematographer, Steven Poster, called John to see if he wanted to help with the location scouting for Steven’s new documentary. John and Steven met on the film shoot of a movie called The Box starring Cameron Diaz.
Last week, the bar on this movie was raised quite a bit. The flood of responses from sound designers and composers is still going! We received over 120 responses from people such as an Academy Award winner for sound who worked on The Dark Night and every Harry Potter, someone who worked on post production sound for Atonement and The Duchess, a composer who was featured in Rolling Stone in November 2008 as an artist to watch, a composer who contributed to the World Trade Center score, etc.
It’s phenomenal and unexpected to have selection of who to work with!
About 5 or 6 composers are sending originally produced music our way. They are using the materials on the site and the pre-selected songs for the script as a reference for the music style. Some composers sent original compositions with their initial inquiry!
People from all over the world are interested in helping on this project for free. Website traffic has skyrocketed – beating the old traffic by 6 times! Over 1,200 people have visited the site since last week.
A couple industry investors contacted me this week too. We aren’t able to work together on it for various reasons, but the word is getting around to the right people.
We have a very strong candidate for the sound position. He has an altercation on April 13th that will determine his availability for the shoot, so keep your fingers crossed! I will give more information when things are confirmed. Already, he has done (and continues to do) extensive, quality research, and we e-mail back and forth daily as if this was his only full-time job.
We have a new crew member! Christie Paquay is a friend from high school. She is a talented writer, an English fan, and an obsessive movie fan. She has already taken the dive into the project to play catch-up, and she will start writing letters to celebrities very soon.
Casting’s underway. Fenix and Hannah are taking the campaign one state at a time. Fenix has contacted every school in Maine thus far (and we have already received responses). Tricialee unfortunately had to discontinue her work on the movie. We sent out notices to a few Birmingham high schools to ask for help from students in casting.
We sent out postings for a Public Relations position, and we received our first response this morning.
This weekend I went on a shoot with a couple professors from school (who work in the professional film circuit). They are shooting a short film for the festival approach, and one of my professors promised to show me the ropes of how he does professional sound if I came out. He has worked on Star Wars and many other top-notch productions. The shoot was a long one, but totally worth it. He gave us a comprehensive sound equipment list that fits in our budget and a few contacts who sell audio equipment and would be willing to give us a discount.
John and I are buckling down to start finalizing equipment decisions to make the purchases in a few weeks. We have made a few final lens selections and are working on finding the right filters for the project.
Yesterday I was phone interviewed by a journalist responsible for covering our story for Kogod’s new website.
The final casting flyer
Last week, the bar on this movie was raised quite a bit. The flood of responses from sound designers and composers is still going! We received over 120 responses from people such as an Academy Award winner for sound who worked on The Dark Night and every Harry Potter, someone who worked on post production sound for Atonement and The Duchess, a composer who was featured in Rolling Stone in November 2008 as an artist to watch, a composer who contributed to the World Trade Center score, etc.
It’s phenomenal and unexpected to have selection of who to work with!
About 5 or 6 composers are sending originally produced music our way. They are using the materials on the site and the pre-selected songs for the script as a reference for the music style. Some composers sent original compositions with their initial inquiry!
People from all over the world are interested in helping on this project for free. Website traffic has skyrocketed – beating the old traffic by 6 times! Over 1,200 people have visited the site since last week.
A couple industry investors contacted me this week too. We aren’t able to work together on it for various reasons, but the word is getting around to the right people.
We have a very strong candidate for the sound position. He has an altercation on April 13th that will determine his availability for the shoot, so keep your fingers crossed! I will give more information when things are confirmed. Already, he has done (and continues to do) extensive, quality research, and we e-mail back and forth daily as if this was his only full-time job.
We have a new crew member! Christie Paquay is a friend from high school. She is a talented writer, an English fan, and an obsessive movie fan. She has already taken the dive into the project to play catch-up, and she will start writing letters to celebrities very soon.
Casting’s underway. Fenix and Hannah are taking the campaign one state at a time. Fenix has contacted every school in Maine thus far (and we have already received responses). Tricialee unfortunately had to discontinue her work on the movie. We sent out notices to a few Birmingham high schools to ask for help from students in casting.
We sent out postings for a Public Relations position, and we received our first response this morning.
This weekend I went on a shoot with a couple professors from school (who work in the professional film circuit). They are shooting a short film for the festival approach, and one of my professors promised to show me the ropes of how he does professional sound if I came out. He has worked on Star Wars and many other top-notch productions. The shoot was a long one, but totally worth it. He gave us a comprehensive sound equipment list that fits in our budget and a few contacts who sell audio equipment and would be willing to give us a discount.
John and I are buckling down to start finalizing equipment decisions to make the purchases in a few weeks. We have made a few final lens selections and are working on finding the right filters for the project.
Yesterday I was phone interviewed by a journalist responsible for covering our story for Kogod’s new website.
The final casting flyer
3.18.2009
Sound Search and Other Stuff
Back to school again.
For the sound designer search, I’ve started collecting contacts for broadcast schools in the south and sending out notices on every sound design group on Facebook. Even though Facebook keeps fussing at me and threatening to disable my account, I keep trying to spread the word, AND IT PAID OFF!
I e-mailed one very connected fellow in Nashville, he sent out the notice all over the place, and within the hour, we already received well over 20 responses. Now it’s just going through and sorting them all out. This is great!
Fenix and I met on Monday. We set some deadlines to make sure the casting moves along smoothly. He and Tricialee will be responsible for contacting 30 institutions every week. Their first deadline is the 24th of this month. So we should start to receive some applications in the next couple weeks. To get some more help with casting, I got in touch with a high school drama teacher that my little brother (Harrison) knew, and I will start approaching literary circles to recruit letter-writing help for Amanda.
I sent the script out for several friends and my professors to read, so we should be hearing some feedback soon.
John and I are filming the Kogod Success Story video tomorrow. Hopefully it’ll come out well and get a lot of publicity for the film when American University releases the brand new website redesign with the video on the front page.
John and I have also been looking for lenses, filters, and other equipment to purchase soon.
The website has also been tweaked a little. Check out the picture below.
For the sound designer search, I’ve started collecting contacts for broadcast schools in the south and sending out notices on every sound design group on Facebook. Even though Facebook keeps fussing at me and threatening to disable my account, I keep trying to spread the word, AND IT PAID OFF!
I e-mailed one very connected fellow in Nashville, he sent out the notice all over the place, and within the hour, we already received well over 20 responses. Now it’s just going through and sorting them all out. This is great!
Fenix and I met on Monday. We set some deadlines to make sure the casting moves along smoothly. He and Tricialee will be responsible for contacting 30 institutions every week. Their first deadline is the 24th of this month. So we should start to receive some applications in the next couple weeks. To get some more help with casting, I got in touch with a high school drama teacher that my little brother (Harrison) knew, and I will start approaching literary circles to recruit letter-writing help for Amanda.
I sent the script out for several friends and my professors to read, so we should be hearing some feedback soon.
John and I are filming the Kogod Success Story video tomorrow. Hopefully it’ll come out well and get a lot of publicity for the film when American University releases the brand new website redesign with the video on the front page.
John and I have also been looking for lenses, filters, and other equipment to purchase soon.
The website has also been tweaked a little. Check out the picture below.
3.14.2009
Second Draft, $10,000, Casting Assistants, Research, etc.
Apologies for the late post, but the second draft is done! It also has a soundtrack. 21 songs corresponding to the musical ques in the script are online at www.kentonbartlett.com/script. Check out the music even if you don’t feel like reading through the whole script.
We are raising $10,000 in 25 days! We set up a collection at a fund-raising website called www.fundable.com. The link for our collection is as follows: https://www.fundable.com/groupactions/groupaction.2009-03-06.7153748780. Send this link out to everybody you know :)
We have two new people on board! Tricialee Friedman and Hannah Ngae are working on the casting for the film. They will help with spreading the word on the project around the nation. Tricialee has been in several of my classes at school and has a huge interest in filmmaking. Hannah and I worked together at the movie theater several years ago. She aspires to be an actress and wants to do as much as she can in the film industry. They are both enthusiastic and we are very fortunate to have their help on this!
The celebrity casting campaign is moving forward steadily. Will has created several awesome designs for the puzzle for the actors (pics below). We are going to use the dark paint brush one. He also created the package design that we will send the puzzles in. Amanda and I met to ocme up with how we are going to convince celebrities to come on board. We also came up with a list of whom to contact first. The list is below (at the risk of breaking industry standards in posting this list, I have always been curious of which actors each movie considers – so apologies in advance for any actor reading this!!).
This week Abbott and I met for the first time. We had corresponded only through e-mail, so it was nice to actually sit down together.
I met with DJ this week too. He has been really stacked with work, school, and family responsibilities, and he won’t have time to practice the audio equipment extensively enough to become proficient with it for shooting. He is still committed to helping full time on the project, but we will need to recruit a proficient/motivated sound man for at least the first month of shooting (and DJ could work both months of the shoot – the first he would learn, the second he would know the ins and outs of it).
John and I are still on the research train. He went to a film shoot for some hands on experience and face-to-face question asking. I went around Home Depot to look into lighting and camera movement gear. I also went to several camera stores to ask a lot of in-depth questions about lenses and filters.
We are raising $10,000 in 25 days! We set up a collection at a fund-raising website called www.fundable.com. The link for our collection is as follows: https://www.fundable.com/groupactions/groupaction.2009-03-06.7153748780. Send this link out to everybody you know :)
We have two new people on board! Tricialee Friedman and Hannah Ngae are working on the casting for the film. They will help with spreading the word on the project around the nation. Tricialee has been in several of my classes at school and has a huge interest in filmmaking. Hannah and I worked together at the movie theater several years ago. She aspires to be an actress and wants to do as much as she can in the film industry. They are both enthusiastic and we are very fortunate to have their help on this!
The celebrity casting campaign is moving forward steadily. Will has created several awesome designs for the puzzle for the actors (pics below). We are going to use the dark paint brush one. He also created the package design that we will send the puzzles in. Amanda and I met to ocme up with how we are going to convince celebrities to come on board. We also came up with a list of whom to contact first. The list is below (at the risk of breaking industry standards in posting this list, I have always been curious of which actors each movie considers – so apologies in advance for any actor reading this!!).
This week Abbott and I met for the first time. We had corresponded only through e-mail, so it was nice to actually sit down together.
I met with DJ this week too. He has been really stacked with work, school, and family responsibilities, and he won’t have time to practice the audio equipment extensively enough to become proficient with it for shooting. He is still committed to helping full time on the project, but we will need to recruit a proficient/motivated sound man for at least the first month of shooting (and DJ could work both months of the shoot – the first he would learn, the second he would know the ins and outs of it).
John and I are still on the research train. He went to a film shoot for some hands on experience and face-to-face question asking. I went around Home Depot to look into lighting and camera movement gear. I also went to several camera stores to ask a lot of in-depth questions about lenses and filters.
Pictures - Second Draft,
www.kentonbartlett.com/script - you can read the script and listen to the music that goes along with it
Will's final puzzle design
Another of Will's puzzle designs - close to the final.
Another of Will's puzzle designs. The arrows would point to physically missing puzzle pieces.
One of Will's puzzle designs.
Will's package design. We will print this out on a standard sheet of paper (heavy card stock), cut the corners out and fold it to look like this.
Puzzle packaging reference.
The initial list of actors to contact (apologies if this is against industry etiquette, but it's something I always wanted to see for other movies.
Amanda and I meet to come up with a clear direction for letter-writing to attract actors.
3.04.2009
Slide show, Casting soon!, Second draft underway
The slide show’s up! Will finished the pictures, and they’re all together in one spot. Also, the corresponding script excerpts from each scene can be found here: http://www.kentonbartlett.com/filmpics.htm.
Fenix unveiled his casting plan with loads of tangibles tonight. He made several template e-mails to use for the different phases of the process. He also created a flyer to be posted around the country to attract talent. Everything looks great, and all the materials are in place. We are on the brink of kicking things off and spreading the word!
The celebrity spreadsheet is complete. It lists approximately 170 actors and ranks them by a number of different variables: how hard is it going to be to attract them, have they done independent films in the past, etc. It also includes actor-specific reasons for why this film would be right for their career. Organizing it this way will help prioritize who we contact and get Amanda on the same page about each actor in the letter writing.
The site each celebrity actor will visit is now up and running. Following the example from the previous post… go to www.missingpiecescasting.com/johnnydepp. Right now, most of the content is only placeholders, but it will give an idea of what we’re going for.
We have a new potential crew member! Colleen Sturdevant is an experienced filmmaker living in New York who has worked on feature films such as Magnolia. She is very interested in helping with casting and is reviewing all the materials on the project to gauge her possible time commitment on the project. She is very qualified and would be an invaluable team member!
The script outline for the second draft is complete. Now it’s just going back through and adjusting the script to reflect all the changes. It’s a lot of re-thinking, re-ordering, and creating completely new scenes going in new directions.
John has gone to and is going on more film shoots to get extra experience to prepare for this film. He is applying what he learns to his research for this film. DJ is struggling to keep up with school and work, but he’s proactively trying to obtain equipment and secure some free time to start practicing.
Fenix unveiled his casting plan with loads of tangibles tonight. He made several template e-mails to use for the different phases of the process. He also created a flyer to be posted around the country to attract talent. Everything looks great, and all the materials are in place. We are on the brink of kicking things off and spreading the word!
The celebrity spreadsheet is complete. It lists approximately 170 actors and ranks them by a number of different variables: how hard is it going to be to attract them, have they done independent films in the past, etc. It also includes actor-specific reasons for why this film would be right for their career. Organizing it this way will help prioritize who we contact and get Amanda on the same page about each actor in the letter writing.
The site each celebrity actor will visit is now up and running. Following the example from the previous post… go to www.missingpiecescasting.com/johnnydepp. Right now, most of the content is only placeholders, but it will give an idea of what we’re going for.
We have a new potential crew member! Colleen Sturdevant is an experienced filmmaker living in New York who has worked on feature films such as Magnolia. She is very interested in helping with casting and is reviewing all the materials on the project to gauge her possible time commitment on the project. She is very qualified and would be an invaluable team member!
The script outline for the second draft is complete. Now it’s just going back through and adjusting the script to reflect all the changes. It’s a lot of re-thinking, re-ordering, and creating completely new scenes going in new directions.
John has gone to and is going on more film shoots to get extra experience to prepare for this film. He is applying what he learns to his research for this film. DJ is struggling to keep up with school and work, but he’s proactively trying to obtain equipment and secure some free time to start practicing.
Casting Flyer Draft and Slide Show Still
The slide show is up! Will finished the sketches, and they're all together in a slide show with script excerpts from each scene. Check it out at http://www.kentonbartlett.com/filmpics.htm.
The first draft of the casting flyer to be posted ANYWHERE! Fenix designed and printed it up. He's going to post it around himself and request schools to post it around to spread the word.
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