Film Maker Spotlight - Blake Hodges

Video Producer, Editor, and Videographer Blake Hodges

Working on this IndieHouse Rentals campaign has been a lot of fun in many ways, but I have to say the thing I am enjoying the most is getting to dive into the amazing world around me full of these ridiculously talented young film makers. I highly suggest you all find some time to take a few minutes in your day, actually sit and look at all the incredible works of art people around you are making or have made. I'm going to start you off on this little quest by introducing you to one of my favorite world traveling film makers, Blake Hodges. This guy has done it all and continues to blow me away with every new thing I learn about him.  He is the west coast video producer for the environmental organization GREENPEACE, and has shot and edited the videos for some of their major campaigns. He was the lead editor, videographer, and director for the PBS series Road Trip Nation. Blake was also the director of the short documentary Aiding the Forgotten, about ARPHEN, an organization which provides aid and education to slum areas on the edge of Mumbai. This short won best documentary at LA's and NY's Zero Film Festival.



Aiding the Forgotten - Mumbai, India from Blake Hodges on Vimeo.



This is what I mean about taking some time getting to know your friends. When I met Blake Hodges, it was at the premiere of his short film Desert Encounter which screened at last years No Budget Film Festival. It was a beautifully shot, simple narrative which I was instantly enamored with. For the longest time, I only knew him as a fellow short film director and had no idea about the depths of his background as this ridiculously accomplished documentary producer and videographer. Making documentary films are hard. Blake has the profound knack for capturing the humanity behind the subject matter while still being able to make every shot so visually engaging. He edits these moments so seamlessly together and creates an easy to follow story.

Blake on set of short film Desert Encounter

Telling the story in a documentary film is the greatest challenge of the genre. You spend so much time acquiring a massive amount of footage, listening to dozens of stories, and witnessing hundreds of moments it's hard to funnel that all into one cohesive through line. When you take that into consideration, you will really appreciate when good editors and story tellers like Blake are able to make the subject matter clear, focused, and relatable. He is currently in the midst of co-editing the feature documentary Occupy the Farm. You can see a great example of his concise editing and story telling in the trailer below which he cut together.


Occupy the Farm - Official Trailer from Blake Hodges on Vimeo.

Outside of all of Blake's documentary work, you should also set aside some time to sit back, and enjoy his wonderfully engaging short narratives. I had the pleasure of working with him on his latest project Security, about a lonely midnight-shift corporate security guard who encounters a mysterious guest on his CCTV video monitors. You can see the through lines of Blake's work in all the picturesque shots and flowing editing which keeps the story captivating from beginning to end. I really love the coloring he chose which blended so well with the music, and all around mood of the piece. Take eight of your minutes and watch this on the biggest screen you can.



SECURITY - A short film from Blake Hodges on Vimeo.

Thank you for taking this time and getting to know another awesome LA indie film maker. I hope this article has inspired you to take a look around and pay more attention to the talented folks right there in your social circle. You can learn more about Blake at www.BlakeHodges.com ! You can also check out more of our IndieHouse Campaign at our website!

Film Maker Spotlight - Jonathan Ade

Writer/Director Jonathan Ade

I need to start this entry of by saying how excited I am about presenting this particular spotlight article.  IndieHouse Rentals is all about celebrating independent film makers that are doing incredible work and there are few artists I have seen as remarkable as writer/director, Jonathan Ade. I had the privilege of meeting Jonathan at the 2012 No Budget Film Festival where I saw a screening of his short The Alchemist's Guide to Getting Over It which premiered at the opening night party. With absolutely no budget, he confidently told a beautifully intimate story through some of the most stunning cinematography I have ever seen in a short film. The thing that amazes me the most about Jonathan's films are how insanely simple the stories are, yet they are rich with hundreds of powerful moments.

Jonathan Ade on set of Meditations: ItsOkayItsOkay

You should immediately go to his website right now and watch his Meditations series of short films. My favorite of the series is Supper. One thing you will notice about Jonathan's style of directing is his astonishing attention to detail in every single shot. The lighting is always perfect. He allows his actors to live and breath in the moments. There is a constant sense of ease in all of the actors performances as well as the flow of the editing. Sometimes he just lets a shot sit there so you can really soak in the arresting beauty of that moment. It takes a lot of confidence as a director to just trust your shots and not fill the story with any extraneous distractions. Jonathan is amazing at capturing everyday life and transcending it to a magical place.



Meditations: Supper from Jonathan Ade on Vimeo.

Jonathan just completed an insanely successful Kickstarter campaign for his upcoming film, Lay in Wait. Lay in Wait is about a young married women named Maggie, who awakens to the final morning of an extramarital camping trip with her lover. During the drive back home, she is shocked to discover her wedding ring is lost. The couple returns to the forest, and in the entangled thicket of nature, Maggie desperately searches for the symbol of her matrimony. As the day yields into night, the search becomes more and more punishing. 

Lay in Wait 35mm film test with DP Alexander Paul

This film has already been on an incredible journey. Jonathan's team began pre-production on Lay in Wait over a year ago, just days after wrapping production on their latest Meditation, ItsOkayItsOkay. The script was written specifically for Elizabeth Olin, a phenomenal new talent set to appear in Killing Season, a new thriller starring Robert De Niro and John Travolta, to be released this year.

Then they spent the last year methodically gathering the immense resources necessary for this film. In the summer of 2012, they partnered with the production company Infinite Lives Entertainment and designed their fundraising promotional packets with accomplished designer and filmmaker Brad Champagne. I had the privilege of seeing these packets and they were amazing!

Jonathan used these packets to promote Lay in Wait at numerous festivals that were already showcasing his team's work. In January of 2013, his team toured the Northeast with their Meditations films, hitting Connecticut, Manhattan, Brooklyn and Northern Virginia.

In February of 2013, award-winning playwright Lucas Neff, star of Fox’s Raising Hope, signed on to be our Executive Producer, taking this project to the next level. You can see Lucas make a hilarious appearance in their promotional video below.

You are definitely going to want to follow Jonathan Ade and keep up to date on everything that his happening with Lay in Wait. Go to www.JonoKino.com . You can also follow along with our own campaign at IndieHouse Rentals.

Speed Collaborate is back!

IndieHouse Rentals wants you to be out there making movies right now, and doing it as easily and as cheaply as possible. How do you make a movie and save a lot of money in the process? You collaborate with other artists that are trying to do the same.

"I'll write the script!"
"I'm going to bring the lights!"
"There is a house I can use for that location!"
"My friends are actors!"
"....everyone has friends who are actors."
"I have a camera!"

And that my friends is how no budget movies get made. But what do you do if you are just one piece short? What do you do if you are new to the city? What do you do if you just want to work with a whole bunch of new fresh faces?

Well, everyone will tell you to network. Everyone will also tell you that they hate networking. I hate networking. A few years ago I went to an awesome event that made the networking process fun. It's called Speed Collaborating and it's coming back June 30th! Speed Collaborating is a speed dating style party that makes it super fun to meet and chat with other film makers and artists of different backgrounds. Last year when it was time for the No Budget Film Festival the Collaborative Arts LA Facebook event for the festival was exploding with amazing- filmmakers that were using the page to connect with actors, set designers, writers, grips, gaffers, and more. This year, they are making that crew recruiting process fun and easy by bringing back their classic Speed Collaborating event just for the No Budget Film Festival!

The price is only $10 which includes drinks and snacks! There is a very limited capacity so  reserve your spot at www.nobudgetfilmfest.com/speedcollaborate .

Here are some tips and tricks to get ready for Speed Collaborate !

1. Know who you are and know what you want. This is speeeeeeed collaborating. You have to do it fast. People love when you respect their time so have your pitch ready. Be ready and able to describe yourself  as an artist in a couple of sentences. Have your elevator pitch ready if you are coming in with a project. If you are not coming in with a project, know what you are coming in for. If you're a DP looking to add things to your reel, say that. If you're just an actor looking to be a part of a film, say that. Don't be shy and beat around the bush. Everyone is there to fill in the gaps for what they need. You just may be the piece they need to fill the last piece of their production puzzle.

2. Bring a pen and paper. You are going to talk a lot and you are going to get inspired quickly. WRITE IT DOWN!

3. Bring business cards. You are going to meet people and you are going to want to get in touch with them. Business cards are the fastest way to do that. If you don't have a card, come in with a plan. Maybe you write your info on pieces of paper. Maybe you snap a photo with your phone and write a message for yourself. What ever it is, be ready to get and give contact info as fast as possible.

4. Come in with an open mind. Don't be a wallflower. You're going to be talking to people...new people...and that's SCARY! Just remember, they are just as scared of you as you are of them. Everyone is here to meet new people. If you don't know what to say, do a lot of smiling and listening. But make sure you are really listening because you don't know what someone might say that will inspire you. Also, be open to be surprised. You may be coming in to get just a DP for your project, but you might meet someone that will work for another project down the road. You may even meet someone that wants you for their project. You just never know so keep an open mind.

5. Follow up fast. Everyone in LA is busy. Projects and lives change fast. If you met someone you want to collaborate with, don't hesitate to reach out. Set up a time to grab coffee and do it soon. Once you set that time, make sure you show up. Our reputations are everything in this town and you want to be known as being a hard, reliable worker that shows up on time, ready to rock.

6. Have fun. No one should need to explain to you how to have fun. Just do it.

SEE YOU AT SPEED COLLABORATING! Make sure you make your reservation. If you want to continue to support independent film makers, take a look at the Indiehouse Rentals campaign page.

Film Maker Spotlight - Kayla Morrisey

One of the best trends that I am seeing in the independent film community is the presence of more and more female directors. This is my second film maker spotlight and it is on writer/director/actress Kayla Morrisey. This girl is someone that has done a complete creative 180 since I met her, and she is killing it. Kayla and I first worked together in 2009 with the comedy group Spontaneous Productions. She was one of our main sketch writers for the group. Her sketches were wild and hilarious. They were always some sort of hot button pushing, very out there piece about something which would most likely be offensive to someone in the audience. Every piece definitely had her signature stamp on it.

It's fascinating for me to see her new work since she has stepped into the spot light as a film maker. She has totally fled the comedic genre and has started a new life pursuing the dark world of dramatic narrative film making. Kayla founded Danny Boy Pictures and had her first short film Echo Park screened at the 2013 Charleston Film Festival and was a collaboration with Steve Gute's Project Los Angeles. Kayla has a great knack for telling very simple, character driven stories which explore the entangled webs of human relationships. She creates an environment that is an unobtrusive backdrop which allows her characters to get to know each other and helps the audience focus on the subtle changes of their relationships. Kayla's two short films Echo Park and Switch are currently on the festival circuit. You can check them out below!


Switch Trailer from Kayla Morrisey on Vimeo.

Project Los Angeles - Echo Park from Steven Gute on Vimeo.

I'm also super excited to announce that Kayla had started pre-production for her first feature, A Beautiful World. This film being produced by Ursula Camack, is set in 2055, at a time when humans have transcended biology, a young astronomer sets on a journey of self discovery. Following the death of her father, Ariadne leaves behind her small town life to find the city and take "The Test"- a government service that promises true love by matching young adults with their perfect life partners. Along the way she meets and falls for Benjamin, a star-gazer who challenges her core beliefs and ideas. Together they journey through a strange new world and uncover the truths behind the rapidly-evolving concept of the singularity.

You can follow along on Kayla's awesome journey as a film maker at www.kaylamorrisey.com ! Make sure you check out more awesome updates at our Indiehouse Rentals home page!

Emily - A First Person Thriller Reborn

The Beginning
In 2009 I wanted to create a realistic thriller series inspired by the fascinating trends I was seeing in the boom of social media. Everyday people are now stalkers. You might want to jump up and say stalker is a harsh word. Well, if you told someone from before Facebook that you knew everything about what they ate that day, what their vacation photos looked like, who they were dating, where they were that night, and all the plans they have for the upcoming week, and you haven't talked to that person since high school, you're a stalker. But I guess we're not anymore because everyone does it.

I set out to create a story of a real life stalker, someone who got wrapped up in the social stalking lifestyle and just took it one more step. Then they took another step. Then it got out of control. I'm fascinated by exploring different styles of storytelling. I decided I was going to try and create a full fleshed out storyline only using the footage from the stalkers camera. My goal was for audiences to get wrapped up in there voyeuristic nature and watch as the horrors unfold.





About the Series
The series is played out through the cameras of Z (Clayton Froning), our stalker as he follows our heroine Emily (Emma Fitzpatrick). She is not the perfect girl by any means. One of the first things you learn about this object of affection is that she is having an affair. She is a flawed character like all of us which makes her such an interesting stalking subject. The audience, through Z's camera get's to see a very intimate invasive perspective of her life, how much she struggles with love, her family, her finances, her hopes, her dreams, and her sanity. Z starts off as just an observer, but he is a story teller at heart. He can't help but plant seeds and influence the unfolding plot of Emily's life. Eventually, he makes himself a character in her story all while recording every detail.


My amazing team of producers Pamela Laurie, and Doug Oliphant helped me to develop this project into a multi dimensional, online experience. We had one major artistic goal in mind, do not be middle of the road. We knew we would get strong responses from people one way or the other. Some people would love it, some people would despise it, but they would have a strong response. Artistically the series was very successful. I had a lot of people watch it and tell me, it was too intense for them to keep watching. In my head I was like "That's awesome!" Except that meant that people were not going to keep watching it. As a business model, this was a terrible idea. People love going to scary movies and getting freaked out. The advantage of a feature length movie, is that after the scary scene is over, the movie keeps going on. You have to keep watching because it would be more inconvenient for you to get up and leave. With a web series, after you watch the terrifying scene, you have to click the next episode. If you're freaked out you're not going to click the next episode. You're going to close down your computer or maybe watch some cat videos to get your mind off of things.


My style of Thriller
The style of the series was heavily influenced by one of the craziest thrillers I have ever seen, Funny Games. This movie features two sociopaths that hold a family hostage using only fear, and a golf club. They don't really make threats, they just play around with reality. You as an audience member never know what is a threat, you only know that something is off and it makes you crazy. A lot of the shots are very long takes. The suspense is allowed to build and a very slow, unsettling pace. You also don't ever really get to see the danger. Instead, you are only allowed to hear the danger and let your imagination fill in the gaps. The Emily series is presented in a very raw, and drawn out format. The takes are long and unsettling like the shower scene you will see in the episode below.



How does it end? The mysterious episode 30
If you start watching the series, you will notice that you can only watch up to Episode 29. In that last episode, Z talks about his final plan but it never gets aired. There are a lot of reasons behind why it ends on episode 29 for the online version. But, you should know there IS an episode 30. In fact, there are two endings to Emily. We started re-cutting Emily into a short film in 2010 and the current ending just didn't make any sense. We wrote a new ending, a crazy ending which is just waiting to be aired. I can't tell you what happens, but I can say that it may just get released at the end of this campaign.


What's Next?
Our next step with Emily is to turn it into a feature film. I have been adapting the script and completely reshaping the story to fit better on the big screen. Once the script is finished, we will be shooting a trailer to help raise some money for the project. Until then, who knows what can happen? In the meantime, you should definitely take some time and see if you can make your way through the whole series. Don't get freaked out, it's not real...anymore.

Emily: The Series

Check out IndieHouse Rentals

The 4th Annual No Budget Film Festival



There is no cheaper way of making movies than using absolutely NO BUDGET! It's definitely a challenge, but it's a lot easier then you think. Like I have talked about in other articles, one of the biggest thing that keeps film makers from just going out there and making movies is the cost. The No Budget Film Festival is all about getting people to stop putting off their dreams, and start getting creative NOW! You will definitely be seeing a lot of updates from me about this festival. Check out the video from last years events!





The No Budget Film Festival is geared towards finding the next great voices in cinema and giving them a platform to stand on. Now in it’s 4th year, this sold out, red carpet, industry-heavy festival will occur over a week of exciting and unique events including star-studded panels, exclusive (and non stuffy) networking opportunities, parties parties parties, and of course, a packed screening showcasing the most cutting-edge, innovative work created internationally by emerging, thrilling filmmakers. So pick up a camera, grab your buddies, and get to work!

Submissions close August 10th. Some No Budget Facts to Remember:

NO! Entry Fee*
NO! Money must have been spent on equipment, locations, actors, or anything else. Beg, Borrow, Innovate, Collaborate!
NO! Films over 8 minutes.
NO! Prior premiere, (including online)- we accept only World Premiere Films.
NO! DVD submissions. Online private links only.
* Each team may submit one submission for FREE, each additional submission will incur a $10 processing fee.

To submit, go to www.nobudgetfilmfest.com!

Film Maker Spotlight - Leah Johnston

 

 

Film maker and Photographer Leah Johnston

Part of the goal behind IndieHouse Rentals is to help shine a light on the great work that is being done by independent film makers. There are a lot of people out there do amazing and innovative work with out spending very much money at all. My first of my spotlight series is on actress, director, and photographer, Leah Johnston. I first met Leah as an actress in the short film Desert Encounter, by director Blake Hodges (whom you will see in a future blog) which premiered at the No Budget Film Festival. Leah and I then collaborated on a few projects. She is the leading actress in my upcoming short film, Heart. We also went on to work together in a second short we actually shot yesterday called Shelly, which we performed in together.

Screen shot from upcoming film, Heart.

As a director and photographer, Leah's work is a breathtakingly visual buffet of images. She has an amazing knack for telling stories through powerful pictures which capture so many emotions, they are a challenge to describe. One of the best things I can say about her as an artist, is that she has a very specific voice which resonates through all of her work. Those of you in the creative industry know how difficult that can be and how amazing it is when an artist can make that happen. Her films, her photography, and her writing all speak with the same dynamic, "Leah" voice. They are all richly character driven stories told through a dynamic visual narrative.


Leah's photography Grasping Our Potential



Leah's Photography: Misty Morning Masquerade

 

Leah was recently awarded a grant from the National Screen Institute in Nova Scotia, and will be heading back to her homeland of Canada to shoot her short her next short film. You should definitely take some time and check out her photography and follow all her projects at her website http://www.leahjohnston.com . She is definitely a film maker you want to keep her eye on.

Test shot from Leah's upcoming short film

For more updates, check out our campaign and help support more indie film makers.



Why create a rental house? Practice

Today is the official launch day for the campaign to start IndieHouse Rentals! My name is Peter Berube. I'm a writer and director working in Los Angeles. Outside of my own projects, the focus of my career has been about keeping artists making art. I may not be in the position to pay everyone yet, but I have built the connections and the relationships to keep people creating. Artist need to create! Not just because it's what we do, but because we need to practice. When you first start out, most of what you make is terrible. I cannot put it in better words than Ira Glass and his video about being creative.




So here's the thing, practice is important to being an artist. Film makers just don't get to have as much practice. It takes too many tools and is so expensive to even just play around with an idea. I've been to a lot of short film festivals and have heard so many people ripping apart the entries. A lot of it has to do with lack of experience. This film maker you're ripping on may have never made a movie before because they've never had the means. If they're lucky, they get to scrape together enough money or equipment to make one short film a YEAR! That's not a lot of practice. It makes it a long process to grow into the artist you are when you only get to make one thing a year.

Think about the subtle ways that you grow when you practice. Repetition and experience build skill. Your mistakes become the invaluable lessons you learn. So how do we help film makers get that practice they need?

We make it easier for them to practice. We make it cheaper for them to have the tools, the right tools. That's what IndieHouse Rentals is all about. I know it's a small start. It needs a lot of help. This is the beginning. I'm going to need to practice to get this idea where it can really help people.

Check out the campaign page and let me know what you think.