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Inside-Out, Outside-In

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Inside-Out, Outside-In

Tag Archives: dumbass filmmakers!

Balancing projects

29 Tuesday May 2012

Posted by hunterlh in Uncategorized

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balance, balancing creative projects, balancing projects, dumbass filmmakers!, hunter lee hughes, time management, time management for creativity

A brief word on balancing projects.  Sometimes you can’t.

For the last several weeks, I’ve been working overtime to prep my first directorial effort – a webseries called “Dumbass Filmmakers!” – for release.  We’re still not finished with the post-audio, the score, the color correction and, of course, the marketing.  It’s been more all-consuming than I anticipated.  And even though I sometimes feel a tremendous amount of guilt at not moving forward every day with the feature….wait….THAT IS RIDICULOUS.  Earth to brain….re-wire!

Sometimes, prioritizing means making a decision that you have no time for something.  Right now, during the thick of this process, I really have no time for the feature.  But that will change within a few weeks.  Just tonight, I finally got the drive delivered to our colorist, also serving as our online editor to close this thing out.  And everything I’m learning directing the webseries applies – in one way or another – to the feature.

So, while I feel terribly guilty to have skipped checking in with you these past two weeks, it was not due to laziness. And that excuse will have to do for my own inner critic as well.

And yes, here is a shameless plug of our teaser trailer for the show.  The 90-second trailer is coming in a few weeks, another project on the near-term horizon. For now, this will have to do! 🙂

Hunter Lee Hughes is a filmmaker and actor living and working in Los Angeles and the founder of Fatelink. His current feature film Guys Reading Poems is touring film festivals and this blog is dedicated to the process of making his second feature film, “Inside-Out, Outside-In.” If you enjoy the blog, please support our team by following us on Facebook, Twitter (@Fatelink) or Instagram (@Fatelink).

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Top Ten Things I Learned at Digital Entertainment Hollywood ’12

14 Monday May 2012

Posted by hunterlh in Development

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cable, convergence, Digital Entertainment Hollywood, dumbass filmmakers!, hunter lee hughes, inside-out, internet television, internet tv, ipad, metadata, outside-in, secondary devices, Top Ten Things I learned at digital entertainment hollywood, transmedia, tribune media services

On the spur of the moment, I decided to attend the four-day Digital Entertainment Hollywood event at the scenic Ritz Carlton hotel in Marina del Rey. Good call. Met a ton of cool hyphenates as well as some movers and shakers in the world of transmedia and multi-platform entertainment (note: it’s no longer new media for those who’re keeping score.). I’m still digesting what I learned and how it applies to an indie feature film, but one thing is certain – the emergence of new technologies, platforms and power distributors is changing the landscape of film.  Here’s some of what I learned.

1. Once convergence happens, some will win and some will lose. The sentiment among Digital Entertainment Hollywood is that a convergence of television and Internet-based entertainment is going to happen. So just how powerful could the 97 companies given “premium” channels on YouTube turn out to be? Good question, but they’re certainly, at minimum, in a great position to take advantage. So growing your following on YouTube, Vimeo and whatever platforms you believe in could be a huge, worthwhile investment in your future as a filmmaker. Imagine if your subscribers can eventually flip to your custom channel just like they flip to NBC. Better build that following right now before others beat you to it.

2. People don’t just watch television.  They watch television and use a secondary device at the same time.  One of the esteemed panelists quoted a recent study that found that 63% of television viewers used a secondary device while watching television. Whether it’s an iPhone, iPad or other smart phone, the big boys are already making content to capture viewers in both places – at once (think “Walking Dead”). If you have content available on a secondary device, you might just keep your viewer’s attention (albeit split over two devices) rather than losing them to Facebook, their texts or whatever else they’re doing. As an indie filmmaker, it means re-thinking that bonus DVD footage to something that might be consumed on a secondary device while they watch your movie. So don’t just create DVD bonus extras, create character breakdowns or photo artwork that adds to the experience of watching the film.

3. Different demographics use the same technology differently. Some content or app creators fall into the trap of simply designing something for the iPad. Well, teenage girls use the iPad very different than senior citizens (many of whom do actually own iPads). So it’s important to think in terms of the demographic, not just the device.

4. When you’re on a panel, keep in mind to warn people when you show explicit content. Okay, so this has more to do with social skills than transmedia, but I got pretty annoyed at one of the panelists when a video game developer showed their 3D video game complete with U.S. soldiers getting shot and dying in what looked like a desert war zone. Now, how could the panelist know that I have a brother serving in Afghanistan right now? But still…if you have content that some might find objectionable or disturbing, you need to warn them before you play it. While I realize that video games are huge, not all of us are prepared to see that sort of violence without a warning.

5. When the character calls, your phone will ring. One content creator has developed a way for audiences to register before they watch the content. Then, when the character receives a phone call on screen, guess what? Your own cell phone rings and the actress yells at you, in addition to the character. When the character receives a text message that a bomb is exploding, you receive the same text message on your own phone. Kinda creepy and cool at the same time and goes to show you how technology is going to keep impacting the experience of consuming content.

6. Putting yourself out there is hard work and the results aren’t always immediate. I must’ve pitched my webseries “Dumbass Filmmakers!” more than a hundred times at the conference and, sure, it would’ve been nice to find an awesome distributor, agent or manager. However, knowing that I’m also building “Inside-Out, Outside-In” and am in the game as an actor-filmmaker for LIFE (sounds like a prison sentence), I tried to take the long view. There’s no need to annoy people with a hard sell now. Hopefully, these are folks that will get to know Fatelink and my work over many years and now I at least have an excuse to contact them with updates and they’ll look a little more familiar at the next conference.

7. Never follow-up with someone without spending 10 minutes on their website. I met an awesome guy at the conference and exchanged cards. I was excited to see him again and dashed off an email, making a joke about how he understood Chinese (his card included traditional Chinese characters).  Guess what? It was Japanese.  Totally embarrassing.  Luckily he forgave me, but a little digging on my part could’ve prevented the mishap.

8. It’s about attracting the Never-Used’s.  There are a lot of savvy transmedia people who’ve cancelled their cable subscription and rely mainly on the Internet for television (myself included), so we tend to think the whole world is trending that way. According to the first panel I attended, that’s just not the case. Many people who cancelled cable did so out of financial pressures and probably will resume their subscriptions as their economic fortunes improve. That’s not good for Internet TV producers. However, there’s a silver lining. Some young people getting out of college have struck out on their own and never used cable at all, at least in terms of paying for it themselves. So these groups will be much harder customers for cable to win over. If Internet TV producers can capture this demographic, that’s some serious leverage going forward.

9. What is metadata and how does it apply to the Web shows?  Metadata is data about data. If you do subscribe to cable or IMDb, you may notice that some systems can recommend programming for you based on your previous selections or ratings. They also provide information about the director, actors, etc. The biggest gatherer of metadata for the entertainment business is Tribune Media Services and guess what? According to one of their executives, they’re developing a prototype to gather metadata about online shows and entertainment. I spoke with one of the executive there and she said they’re just trying to figure out where the threshold should be in terms of which shows and actors to track. They only want the most meaningful data, not clutter. Being listed in the metadata of Tribune Media Services is powerful, so I’m curious how many transmedia players they’ll end up tracking.

10. Whenever you go to a conference at a hotel, bring a banana and stop by Starbuck’s right before you arrive.  Seriously. The hotel charges a fortune for stuff like that.

Hunter Lee Hughes is a filmmaker and actor living and working in Los Angeles and the founder of Fatelink. His current feature film Guys Reading Poems is touring film festivals and this blog is dedicated to the process of making his second feature film, “Inside-Out, Outside-In.” If you enjoy the blog, please support our team by following us on Facebook, Twitter (@Fatelink) or Instagram (@Fatelink).

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Choreography, Part 1: Jamie Benson on bringing the dance to the movies

09 Monday Apr 2012

Posted by hunterlh in Interviews

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artistic self-indulgence, choreography, choreography in movies, dancing in 3d, dumbass filmmakers!, gay film, gay filmmaking, highways performance space, hollywood hypocrisy, homophobia, homophobia in filmmaking, hunter lee hughes, independent filmmaking, inside-out-outside-in, Jamie Benson, Jamie Jeppe Benson, mass transit, microbudget filmmaking, sermons of john bradley, straight guys playing gay

I’ve known Jamie for about four years.  Formerly the membership director of Highways Performance Space, Jamie helped support our run of ‘The Sermons of John Bradley‘ at the space.  After our show – which included a five-minute segment of choreography with no dialogue – Jamie commented that he liked the intensity and even brutality of the movement between the characters.  I felt so grateful that someone noticed the quality we worked so hard to infuse into the piece.  After that, I began supporting Jamie’s work in independent theatre when I could and noticed that his original choreography in “Mass Transit” focused more on the unique humanity of each of his dancers rather than a perfectionist aesthetic ideal.  And yet, when required, Jamie could choreograph intricately beautiful moments.  This was precisely the quality that made me feel he might be the right man to bring the moves to “Inside-Out, Outside-In.”  So I brought him on to choreograph the initial workshop performance of the climatic scene of ‘Inside-Out, Outside-In.’  And he did an amazing job. Now, I’m just suffering a bit of Jamie-withdrawl since he’s moved to NYC to pursue his fortunes there, but check out our talk about dance and the movies.

Hunter: OK so not only is “Inside-Out, Outside-In” my first feature as a writer-director, it’s the first time I’m incorporating movement/dance choreography into a filmed piece.  Any advice for the newbie?

Jamie: Make sure that you really allow the movement some time in full frame. It seems fast cuts are real popular in the flashy world of feature filmmaking and sometimes the dancing is lost. That and after seeing the Wim Wenders film “Pina,”  it’s only a matter of time before we all should be presenting dance in 3D. Just sayin’.

Hunter:  Well not sure our microbudget will stretch to 3D just yet.  You mentioned that you love seeing people talk and dance on screen, that it’s satisfying to see people work something out through movement.  Tell me about that.  What are some of your favorite movies with choreography?

Jamie: Dance is designed to reveal simple truths. But if you’re able to add words and a linear scenario or context, you have so much more texture to experience as a viewer. If a couple is fighting while dancing a romantic waltz, there is so much more wit and intrigue to the juxtaposition, for example.

Hunter:  I like that.  What drew you to help out with ‘Inside-Out, Outside-In?’ Was there anything in the story there for you or did you just basically get roped in because we’re friends?

Jamie: Ha! A little of both – life is layered or something. I was curious as to whether or not I could deal with the challenge of a limited time-frame AND inform the meaning of the script within the script through simple gestures and movements. A bit of a puzzler but that was part of the fun.

Hunter: We had an issue where a straight actor became uncomfortable with dance with another man while workshopping this piece.  It brought up a lot of feelings of anger and inadequacy in me because I felt I tried so hard to make him comfortable.  Is this a common problem in the dance world?  What is your suggestion for working with actors in the future on this?  On the one hand, the character himself is straight and unsure about his feelings towards this other male so a little discomfort is interesting, but when does fear of intimacy or even homophobia damage a piece or prevent its full realization?  Your thoughts?

Jamie: Most dancers, whether straight or not, are a.) around a lot of gay people because, let’s face it, we’re talking about dance. Cliches, just like a good joke, have some truth to them. b.) Dancers are notoriously underpaid and will usually do just about anything to continue “working” whether that means sidling up to another guy or not. I’ve had to grab a straight guy’s ass in performances before. Honestly I think it was a great chance for the guy to enjoy the flirtation without being totally accountable for it. A sort of, “well that’s what the director wanted” sort of thing. I’ve helped produce a gay-centric play before and the straight guys we’re totally cool about it. There should be some awareness going into it for them and if there isn’t, how can you really combat an actor’s denial during the courting process? They probably want to do what they can to get the part at that point. I wouldn’t worry too much. It’s given you a fire to push forward with the work and material to blog about the movie-making process. Hell, there’s a few press releases there. That’s valuable. In our quick digestion of drama, turmoil can be an asset. Its part of the story and intrigue of the film you’re making.

Hunter: The piece has an element of life-imitating-art-imitating-life.  When you choreograph, how do you draw from your own experiences while still staying true to the situation at hand for the characters?  In other words, when does your personal expression need to be channeled into something more-or-less objective versus when it is okay to allow your personal story/demons to be expressed in a very raw, direct way?

Jamie: Making whatever story arc I’m presenting complete is of top priority. This is not unlike making a film. Sometimes the best lines or scenes must be sacrificed for the greater good of the storytelling. I fear that being an “artist” has an inherent “self-indulgent” quality to it anyway so I have no intention of running away with the fact. I have to constantly ask myself if each moment serves the whole of the story. “Why would she do that here?” or “Who is this character like and what is my experience with that type of person?” “What do I believe is the truth of the scenario I’m creating?” The scenarios I’m compelled to create are somehow personally satisfying for me to present. It’s satisfying to include personal observations I have into the work but it all has to inform the story somehow. I hate going to shows where there is no sense of editing. I’m sensitive to that.

Hunter: You and I have talked a bit about valuing the exploration of the humanity of – for lack of a better word – “the little guy.”  I’m thinking of your piece “Mass Transit” and also the webseries “Dumbass Filmmakers!” on which we collaborated.  Tell me about “the little guy” in your own work and how it might apply to ‘I-O, O-I.’

Jamie:  I am the little guy – at this juncture – so that P.O.V. surfaces in the work at times. I also find a certain innate hypocrisy in the entertainment world and strive to demystify things because of it. Ballerinas are flawless porcelain dolls, or rappers are so so cool or models so sexy yet at the end of the day, they still have body odor, cry themselves to sleep sometimes, or get insecure. That is humanity and our culture seems to deny or exaggerate/exploit it. My work is often aimed at the reveal of these truths under the illusion of the day-to-day performance we are all a part of. Usually, it’s done in a humorous way to help from being preachy.

Hunter: Now, you moved to NYC!  And so…..we’ve had to pick up the pieces without you.  😦  How’s it going out there?

Jamie: Hectic! But good! Internship in the marketing department of the Paul Taylor Dance Company, performance of my satirical ballet “Bowel Movement” in a couple of weeks, just won a Martha Graham video contest and more to come. I’m really enjoying my time here. We shall see. Thanks for your time here!

To learn more about Jamie and his dancing and choreography, please visit www.jamiebenson.com. His latest piece – “Bowel Movement” – runs April 12th and 13th at the Triskelion Arts Aldous Theater in Brooklyn.  Take a look at the trailer here.

—

Hunter Lee Hughes is a filmmaker living and working in Los Angeles and the founder of Fatelink. His current feature film Guys Reading Poems is touring film festivals and this blog is dedicated to the process of making his second feature film, “Inside-Out, Outside-In.” If you enjoy the blog, please support our team by following us on Facebook, Twitter (@Fatelink) or Instagram (@Fatelink).

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Top Ten Websites for Indie Filmmakers

23 Friday Mar 2012

Posted by hunterlh in Development

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constant contact, dumbass filmmakers!, facebook, filmspecific, filmspecific.com, gay mafia, gaymafia, gaymafia:gen2, google analytics, imdbpro, indiewire, quickbooksonline, top ten sites, top ten sites for independent filmmakers, top ten sites for indie filmmakers, top ten websites, top ten websites for independent filmmakers, top ten websites for indie filmmakers, vimeo, winner takes all, withoutabox, wordpress

Okay, so here’s my brief opinion on the top ten websites that are helpful to the indie filmmaker in the development or pre-production process.

10.  QuickBooks Online – Yes, it costs some money.  But it allows you to easily categorize expenses, which in turn allows you to build better, more reasonable budgets. I’m able to quickly run reports on how much we’ve spent on “Winner Takes All” and “Dumbass Filmmakers!” and break down the expenses into categories.  Plus, it helps in allowing you to create 1099’s and other financial documents you might need and easily creates quarterly reports, which you’ll legally be needing to create if you’ve formed an LLC.

9. Google Analytics – If you have any previous projects, Google Analytics is a must to see what kind of traffic you have and where it’s coming from.  For the site for “Winner Takes All,” we’ve had visits from 86 different countries.  I know the countries where we’ve established a following.  I know how many hits various cast members have driven to the site.  I know what sorts of search words have sent people to me. This is all crucial information when thinking about marketing in the future.

8.  WithoutaBox – Yes, I believe if you’re in any stage of your film’s process, you should be looking on WithoutaBox.  There are so many categories for researching film festivals and it helps to start tracking the festivals long before you apply so you get a sense of the flavor of each festival. Eventually, you can target your submission to the specifics of those receiving it.

7.  Wordpress – This blog is being written on WordPress.  My personal acting site and business site are flash.  The sites for “Winner Takes All” and “Dumbass Filmmakers!” were created by a graphic designer, who is fabulous.  However, with each little update I make on any of them, I have to rely on someone who’s not only brilliant, but also very, very busy.  And not free.  Wordpress allows me to go completely DIY and create more content cheaply.  If you can create some sort of site for your film on WordPress – at least in the beginning – it saves on marketing costs when you don’t have a budget yet.

6.  Vimeo – This is now the go-to site for filmmakers sharing their work on the Internet. The comments and people involved are a cut above what you find on that other major video sharing site.  OK, let’s be real.  The people on Vimeo are like four or five levels above the other site.  And most filmmakers worth much would rather have their reel on Vimeo, so it’s a great place to sample work for potential creative collaborators.  I’m not sure why it hasn’t caught on with actors quite as much yet, but I’m sure they will follow soon.

5.  Constant Contact – If you’re going to do any type of email marketing campaign to accompany your film, Constant Contact has tons of videos about strategies and tips on email marketing.  Even if you don’t end up going with their service and decide to DIY, the tips and mindset they advocate are worth sampling.

4.  IndieWire – I’m cheap.  So I don’t want to pay to subscribe to Variety, but I want to read about trends in filmmaking somewhere.  My choice is IndieWire.

3. FilmSpecific – The free blog section of FilmSpecific has lots of articles about financing and distribution.  Interesting is blog author and former sales agent Stacey Park’s discussion of “distribution-in-reverse” whereby filmmakers figure out their target audiences and pipeline to those audiences before even getting out of the development process.  I’m always nervous when we take the audience into account too much in the creative process – I trust the story to tell me where it’s going – but I do think the advice about being realistic about the target audiences and markets available is well worth reading and considering.

2. Facebook – Maybe it’s stating the obvious, but sometimes the obvious is essential.  Facebook allows me to connect casually with other filmmakers and actors I meet without coming across as needy or wanting something from them.  It also allows me to understand the filmmakers a little more from their profiles.  I always check what movies they like before heading to a meeting.  And again, it goes without saying how valuable it is to know who-is-mutual-friends-with-who.  Are they connected to a bunch of theatre people?  To GayMafia:Gen2?  Etc.

1. IMDbPro – I know that almost all of us are struggling for money as indie filmmakers.  But IMDbPro is worth the monthly fee.  When researching actors, I don’t want to call SAG to figure out who their agent is.  I want to look it up on IMDbPro and see who else that agent represents while I’m at it and I love the function of being able to see if I’m connected to the other person through mutual co-workers.  And believe it or not, even with only 16 credits (but who’s counting? ;)), it’s amazing just how many people I’m already connected to in this way.  And very helpful to know when making introductory calls.

—

Hunter Lee Hughes is a filmmaker living and working in Los Angeles and the founder of Fatelink. His current feature film Guys Reading Poems is touring film festivals and this blog is dedicated to the process of making his second feature film, “Inside-Out, Outside-In.” If you enjoy the blog, please support our team by following us on Facebook, Twitter (@Fatelink) or Instagram (@Fatelink).

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So where are we, kid?

20 Tuesday Mar 2012

Posted by hunterlh in Development

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all that jazz, betty jones, bob fosse, dumbass filmmakers!, inside-out, inside-out-outside-in, ivana chubbuck, meditation, meditation retreat, private equity investor, Script Development, webseries, winner takes all

In January, 2010, I went on a meditation retreat, led by local spiritual guru Betty Jones. Sandwiched in between the production of a short (“Winner Takes All“) and a webseries (“Dumbass Filmmakers!“), it was designed to be a much-needed break from the demands of the material world and, especially, Los Angeles. And I can honestly say that all the meditating…and sleeping…and gentle contemplating…restored at least a portion of my sanity. Of course, I also walked away from the weekend with a killer idea for a feature-length movie.

A little over two years later, I’ve written the screenplay of “Inside-Out, Outside-In.”  This January, after some drama, we workshopped the climatic scene of the piece in Ivana Chubbuck‘s master acting class (more on this in a future post).  And I’ve managed to do some rewriting based on that experience. We’ve already had interest by some private equity investors. One of my investors for the webseries saw a rough cut of that project and immediately expressed interest in signing up for the feature.  That was a fantastic feeling…and a moment when my brain started generating things-to-do-lists and attempting to re-trigger an addiction to coffee. So I’m simultaneously refining the script and putting an investment package together while interest remains high.

But, for now, a huge part of the process is purely creative.  Jotting down ideas for shots.  Mindmapping the characters and scenes. Brainstorming about everything from character names to color palettes to costumes. And rewriting, rewriting, rewriting. That may bring you to the question – so what is the script about anyway? Well…I’m not ready to tip my hand on the story just yet…BUT…I will include a trailer here of one of the two films that have inspired me in the development of the film. I absolutely LOVE Bob Fosse’s brilliant take on a choreographer’s descent into that great twilight set against the backdrop of the fast-paced, experiential task of putting together a Broadway show. I’ve seen it easily 25 times and if you realize later on that I stole a shot or two from it…well…you read it here first.

—

Hunter Lee Hughes is a filmmaker living and working in Los Angeles and the founder of Fatelink. His current feature film Guys Reading Poems is touring film festivals and this blog is dedicated to the process of making his second feature film, “Inside-Out, Outside-In.” If you enjoy the blog, please support our team by following us on Facebook, Twitter (@Fatelink) or Instagram (@Fatelink).

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