STINGER EMAIL RECEIVED TODAY ABOUT ME AND MY PROJECT

[nigel101]

I usally get criticisam from loads of people usally about my website or about my spelling, I got this one today.

You can check out my website although it is off for redesign.
www.ngmfilms.com

Hey Nigel,

here we go

1) Don't spoof an age old movie company with your title. NGM Films is neither appropriate, nor going to lead to a sucess. MGM had, and still has, a lot of respect in the industry and you'd be viewed as either trying to leech off of that, or worse, patronizing that. So, name change. Even if your initials are NGM.

2) the entire website first tries to crash my computer, than shows up with redxs for images. And has a crappy layout from what I can see. It looks like trash. Get rid of it, redesign it.

3) Hollywood is quicktime based, your trailer is wmv. Change it.

4) What are you filming on? I wish I could see the trailer, but it doesn't work.

5) If you're shooting on DV, a feature length can be made for under 10,000 (5000 pounds). If you have a ton of special effects, double it.

6) Don't shoot your first film on film. If you're shooting film, shoot a short first- not a feature.

7) Your first film won't sell. You will never make any money back. You will never sell any DVDs. You will end up with a loss.

Storyboards are done, at max, 3 to a page. You've got 20. Your DP is going to go nuts.

9) Do you have a DP?

10) your storyline ( http://www.freewebs.com/rising-evil/ris ... ryline.htm ) is filled with grammatical errors and the like. No one's going to donate money to your film with a synopsis like that.

11) Your special effects section is ok, however it has very little do with making models for the silver screen. The build process is different; because the models have to be animated, and the colors have to look right and not gleam under 5,000W lights. Also, from what I gather you're shooting on MiniDV, which is almost impossible for model/green screen work.

12) one to four months PRODUCTION TIME? Get real.

13) Finally, you state that you'll be sending the film to film festivals worldwide. You won't be. 1) Festivals don't accept MiniDV for entries (well, a few do) 2) Those that do, don't accept 90-120 minute long movies. Almost no festivals do.

14) How in GODS NAME did you turn a 6 page script into a half an hour? The scripts either really poorly written, or was overproduced and overedited.

Sorry to crush your hopes and dreams,

--Sean

I'm not trying to be an nob, I'm just trying to be realistic for you- and the people who you want to funnel $60,000 dollars into your project. I'm glad you "sold out" on the trailer DVDs the first day- but that doesn't mean much.

http://www.6gc.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=22867

what you thing?

[BrownCowStudios]

There is much truth in what he has to say. Although, I do have a few discrepancies with what he believes, namely number thirteen.

[Nomaden]

"sorry to crush your hopes and dreams" - HAHA, just because of that, ignore him and continue as you do, no matter what other say, criticism can change over time you know

[Matt]

3) Hollywood is quicktime based, your trailer is wmv. Change it.

So what? Hollywood is lots of things. Most of them rubbish! Why follow what Hollywood does? Sounds like a bitter Mac user to me ...

11)you're shooting on MiniDV, which is almost impossible for model/green screen work.

Wrong! I think there are few million miniDV camera owners out there who would disagree with that.

Although he makes some valid points the fact that he offers almost no encouragement means he is probably an idiot. There are lots of people out there who spend their time slagging off other peoples efforts when they have got nothing going for themselves.

[Raptor]

I wouldn't ignore them all, I would take them and use them for the basis of research - consider them constructive criticism.. some of the points are valid
DV ( MiniDV, DVCAM, DVCPro ) all are pretty poor for green screen work. It can be done, Serious Magic Ultra does a pretty decent job of chromakeying DV footage - Premiere does not do a good job, AE, when done properly by building a mulit layer mask, does a pretty good job. But it all comes down to the limitations of the DV format and the 4:1:1 sampling rates used, this results in very rough edges around your key. Again, Ultra has become my personal favorite for keying, well worth the $700 investment if you want to get clean keys. Even with Ultra tho, it still takes a lot of color correction to get a smooth interface to teh background, and poorly shot green screens can still give you fits.
As far as festival submissions, build a list of festivals you want to submit to, - name contact, format restrictions, time restrictions, cost etc...
Clean up the errors!! By not cleaning these up you leave people with the perception that you have no attention to detail. And that is what is required to pull off a major project. "The devil is i the details" is incedibly true.
Hollywood is film based, not quicktime - that one I'd ignore LOL..... 60 story boards for a feature... he's right, a DPs nightmare! We do usually 10 - 15 boards for a 30 second commercial ( unless it's a really simple 'talking head' shoot )
I have to agre on the script - 6 pages would probably amount to 4-5 minutes MAX! That's assuming a really long involved establishing shot.
A project like this can be done, and done successfully, but it is a LONG process, the details you address in Pre-Pro will pay back dividends multiple times in production and post.
Apparently you have hit your max bandwidth, getting the 'site frozen' message. This in and of itself is a trunoff. In order to really solicit donations, you need to present a professional appearance. Also, again since I can't see exactly how you word the request for support - you may want to check intot eh difference between donations and an investment. Donations are probably OK, but if you are talking about any return on that contribution, it now becomes an investment, and depending on the laws where you live, may complicate things immensely......

[Ornsack]

He's a frustrated film maker. End of.

[nigel101]

hiya

yeah he does have some vaild points but I dont think he read my website proply, I have a 90 page script and ive done 500 storyboards..

Ive shot a 30 min short to see what it take and it supringly hard work.

I get a lot of discurragment and that email was one of the top ones although he hasnt seen my trailer or any of my pictures.

He said you can shoot a film with miniDV for $5,000 but I cant name one film shot for that inside the UK. (The Cam alone is $2k used)

Yeah I've read into donation and investment if I get enough money I'll form a LTD company. Sell shares for 100 pounds each.

The only trouble is do I shot FILM or miniDV?

I've read everything about both of them the pros and cons it will have to be miniDV thats the only thing that comes into budget.

Anyway always good to hear from you.
N Moran

[Epsilon]

It sounds like he woke up on the wrong side of the bed...

[Mushiman]

Like Ornsack said, i think he's a filmmaker who's put a lot of time, money and effort into trying to 'make it big' and has failed. Valid info there though.
Just go with what you believe in cause in the end, you'll end up getting lost if you don't.

[Meade87]

What in gods name is wrong with shooting on film? Eh? I really don't get that. Plus you'll never make any money back? Sure good chance thats right, but their are people (Kevin Smith) who prove that wrong, while the film being comic genius, if you were to truly break it down the way that guy seemed to be the film truly was shitty, but it was his first he made his money back and then some Jesus this guys sounds like a dick. Many points are valid. Take them for what there worth. I can't view your site so I don't know if your layout sucks. Well it probably does, no offense but mine has sucked for some time now. But I am working on getting a new host and the layout I have already made that is on my comp is a whole lot better. Keep up the work man. and disregard what Nomaden said, Criticism does sometimes change overtime but some points were valid and should be observed. I didn't read every thread here because a lot of them were super long. If I am repeating to much, than I have only one thing to say.... You're S.O.L. -L8er

P.S.
Their are tons of Festivals all over that accept mini-dv films. Hmmm, even the Tribeca Festival was accepting them...So that guy is pretty cut-off from the reality of low budget film making. Also someone should make remark on his own grammar. For one "an nob" is incorrect you only turn a into an when the next word begins with a vowel and "n" isn't a vowel. Also, "what do you thing?" Don't get me started on this.

[nigel101]

I replied to that guy my replies are (nigel) in brackets his is under them.
See what you think........

(Nigel)May initials are NGM

Thats unfortunate, I'd still change them

(Nigel) Im not aiming for hollywood im aiming for UK and WMV is better quality

hehe, since when was WMV better quality? I know you haven't shot your film yet, but if you're doing stuff on the web, you better learn


5) If you're shooting on DV, a feature length can be made for under 10,000 (5000 pounds). If you have a ton of special effects, double it.

(Nigel)Name one moive that cost $5,000 and ill eat my hat. The camcorda alone is $3,000

hehe, plenty of movies shot on DV have cost 10,000-20,000 dollars and gone many a places. Furthermore, it's not my fault you decided to buy the camera instead of renting- a huge expense. But what kind of crappy camera did you buy that only cost 3000? A GL2 isn't qualified to shoot a feature, and neither is a DVX100


11) Your special effects section is ok, however it has very little do with making models for the silver screen. The build process is different; because the models have to be animated, and the colors have to look right and not gleam under 5,000W lights. Also, from what I gather you're shooting on MiniDV, which is almost impossible for model/green screen work.

(Nigel) you can shot models and green in miniDV Starwars uses HD camcordas

Not to offend you, but you just prooved you have no fundamental understanding of tech- you really shouldn't be shooting this film. it is imperative you get a DP who has plenty of expierence and knows what they're talking about. You CAN NOT shoot models and green screen on DV and get a good composite

12) one to four months PRODUCTION TIME? Get real.

(Nigel) Aliens and terminator was done in 16 weeks.

You're not shooting Alien or Terminator.

13) Finally, you state that you'll be sending the film to film festivals worldwide. You won't be. 1) Festivals don't accept MiniDV for entries (well, a few do) 2) Those that do, don't accept 90-120 minute long movies. Almost no festivals do.

(Nigel)28 Days later and my little eye was on the big screen so why not X's miniDV, 120minuate is standed time for any film check any back of DVD.

First off, I'm in the business here in LA, so I'm well aware of the standing time of a standard film. However, I'm telling YOU that most film festivals don't accept MiniDV for entries, and most also do not accept longer films unless it's really really really ball busting good.

(Nigel) the short was 25minutes long shot from 6 pages of my script, my proper script is 90 pages.

So your finished film is going to be 360 minutes? Right now your ratio is at 1 page of script to 4 minutes of time, and thats too long. A film needs to be written, shot and edited with a 1-1 ratio
I have had loads of critisiem usally about spelling, the site, etc and i've had loads of prositive feedback. At the end of the day I have come so far and raise $4,000 with also pre-orders this is my dream who else do you know trying to shot a film at least im out there doing it, I cant turn back now.

I just shot a film, I've done films before. All my friends do film. I'm here in LA, in the industry.

I'm not asking you to turn back on your dream, I'm not asking you to quit. I'm telling you that the only way you're going to be a sucess is to make your dream a reality, not by wishing it so, but by making it so. The only way you can make it so is if you do things SMARTLY and realistically. Thats what my critism is aimed to produce. I want you to get down and think about these things. Trim your unrealistic budget, trim your shooting time down to 14 days (most features are shot over 3 weeks btw), realize the downsides of your format (you can't shoot models of greenscreen (if you want, I can tell you how to shoot against whitescreen, which DV handles a lot better)) Etc

Nigel, do it smart!

Oh, one more thing, on the topic of feature length filmmaking on the cheap, I'm sure you're aware of El Mariachi (the first film before Desperado, once apon a time in mexico). Shot for 7000 dollars, on film.

The directors commentary on that disc is A++. The best commentary I've ever heard, and I usually require my students to watch it. It's about budget filmmaking, special effects on the cheap, etc.

[Meade87]

Tell him, that LA can go suck a nut, and ask him to check the requirements for film entries in the Tribeca and the IFM (Independent Film Market) both operate out of New York and have major credibility. Also any person can get their DV film screened at the Angelika Film Center (also in association with the IFM) since they have Digital Projects and are quite capable of doing such things and you can advertise and get producers to view it....It happens all the time ecspecially this time of year. Also, tell him to check the Long Island Film Festival (not a great fest bout it accepts Mini-Dv entries and if you win it gives you just added credibility and respect at IMDB.Com [Which is the most viewed internet movie source]) tell him not for nothing but he is talking out of his a**.

[I3lade203]

A lot of the stuff he says is just pathetic. The name change? Come on, you can name it whatever the hell you want. I say keep the name.

[NPMAX]

Many festivals accept DV this guy is a nobody screw himand his thoughts, do your thing man.

[Jass Films]

Yeah, you get used to this kind of thing after a while, the way I see it, is if you don't get bagged, you are not getting anywhere. So yeah, don't worry about it, brush it off and keep doing what you enjoy.

By the way, Quicktime is better quality, EXCEPT when exported from premiere. The reason all hollywoods films are Quicktime is becuase most of them are editing using Final Cut Pro. The export quality and file size is a lot better than WMV when it from Final Cut Pro. From Premiere however it is not. I use Quicktime .MOV because I edit with final cut pro, but seriously, export to WMV from Premiere.

[Carnage7p]

the fact that this guy claims he is in the industry makes him look like a total idiot especially because of some of the rediculous things he says that are clearly not true about the film industry. i wish i could meet this loser. he probably just waits tables in L.A. because he has never had any success. don't let him bring you down.

[Theshapecool]

He obveously has never made a film and is jelous because your doing your thing, what a loser.

[Caveman]

I've met people like this... sceptics

Thing is, now they're begging me 2 let them in on my videos so whatever this guy claims to be he's just a wanker and we can all see that.

Block his E-mails and 4get about him, if you wanna make films make your films and don't waste time with idiots like him it's not worth it.

cheers,
John

[El Brenty]

Hmmmmm, that was email was signed Sean. FOXWOOD???

GOSH!

[SgtPadrino]

So, this guy has never heard of 28 Days Later or Open Waters?

[windog]

I am sorry to say that he is just jelious. Probley a heavy smoker with nothing better to do in life than pull down others. I love your website its great.

[SgtPadrino]

Besides, apparently this guy really doesn't know a damn thing about doing indie films. It's pretty easy to say "You have to shoot film," but actually doing it if you haven't been through some kind of film school or something is pretty damn hard. Doing amateur flicks is all about improvising and using what you've got to make your movie, because, believe it or not, we don't have the kind of deep pockets to do all the things this guy is asking. And what's all that cr** about not being able to do good models on a DV camera?? I guess he's never seen Global Hawk or Flight 409 either.