Jeff Ching and I made a movie

Warren Wagner · 06:53 AM

For the past two months, Jeff Ching and I have been working our asses off on a feature film. It's been the best on set experience I've ever had. We never really ran into too many problems and things have been going great.

We'd gotten lucky more than a few times with locations. We got a bar that let us shoot there for free, a video store that let us shoot there for a very small price, and a really beautiful theatre that let us shoot there for a very good price as well.

The only damper on the shoot was that the real life couple who star as the leading couple in the film... Broke up the last day of shooting. We were all really bummed about that and it was kind of awkward. But they're still on good terms so it's not the end of the world.

The only two crew members were Jeff Ching doing audio, and Me doing camera. For lighting we used 100 watt light bulbs and tried to go for a really natural look.

I don't really have much else to say, but I want to start getting people interested in this movie so I'm trying to get the trailer out there as much as possible. I'm still editing the movie right now, which is a real challenge since the first rough cut was about 2 hours and 10 minutes long... Way too long for a comedy feature, so I want to cut it down to an hour and a half. So that's a work in progress.

Anyway, here's the trailer and I hope you guys can enjoy it... We've put a lot of time and effort into this movie.

Mabdog · 09-26-2009, 04:43 AM

Rabid Dinosaur · 09-26-2009, 08:13 AM

Haha, I liked the obnoxious drunk story. That was acted really well. Maybe too many dick jokes in the trailer? I don't know. Overall I think it looks pretty cool, though. I'd watch it, definitely. Did you write it?

Invisbl Shado · 09-26-2009, 08:32 AM

I think this community is moving on from making 3dmms to live action stuff, I dig it...

Looks cool man, GL with it!

Compcat · 09-26-2009, 08:35 AM

I like the trailer. Looking forward to the movie.

Dave Miles · 09-26-2009, 02:04 PM

this looks great.

Maritheclap · 09-26-2009, 02:20 PM

Ok, I have some questions. Love the locations... the video store and theater seem to add really good production value. Also, what was your budget? And you only had you two as crew the ENTIRE TIME? Are you sending it to any film festivals?

That blonde chick is so obnoxious. In a good way.

Warren Wagner · 09-26-2009, 02:40 PM

Thanks guys for watching, it means a lot to me!

Rabid: Yeah, I wrote it. I always mix cock/poo jokes in with serious drama, because to me it makes the jokes even funnier. So yeah... There are a lot, but that's a good point maybe a few too many in the trailer.

There was also a lot of improv on set. I showed the actor's the script at the end of July, and said I wanted to start filming beginning of August. They were all down with it.

Since everyone had so much going on, most of the time they'd learn lines on the day of shooting. Which I honestly feel helped out the performances because they were so fresh and a lot of improv as well. I never like actor's sticking to my script completely, I like being surprised.

The budget was AROUND $1000 Canadian. Maybe a little more, maybe a little less. We didn't really want to spend too much on this movie. Scott (Qaz), Jeff, and I all put some money together to make it, but we didn't have a real budget, we just kinda put the money together as we needed it. So I feel pretty good that we made a feature we're proud of and are not in credit card debt.

It was only Jeff and I the entire time. The last day of filming, at the theatre, we had a few PA's that were Jeff's friends, and we ended up hardly ever using them. I like doing a lot of stuff on my own because I hate telling people what to do. (Why I will never be a REAL director

)

I'm editing the movie, but once we're done (Will be pretty soon, I've been editing every night after shooting) we are going to try to get it to as many festivals as possible. Best case scenerio as any indie film dreams... We'd love to get distribution. Movies like "Nights and Weekends" and "Puffy Chair" are filmed like ours and have gotten distribution from Netflix and IFC Films, which would be a dream come to.

Thanks for watching guys! I hope I answered all the questions.

Warren Wagner · 09-27-2009, 04:32 PM

http://www.audition-movie.com

Michael Jeffrey · 09-27-2009, 07:32 PM

This is cool, trailer only loaded halfway for me but it's my internet connection, I'll try it again in the morning. But from what I saw it was great, I really like the 'audition' idea and especially their acting jobs

Quote:

Grace has been typecast as having various sexually transmitted diseases after doing an aids commercial and Cal is doing a black face version of Romeo and Juliet.

Hope there is some way I can get ahold of this when its out.

The Chinese Jew · 09-27-2009, 09:06 PM

Ever since Audition wrapped, it feels like we've been done the movie for a really long time when it's actually been only a week. For some reason it feels like it's been longer.

This is definitely the lowest budget/most ghetto shoot I've ever been a part of. The boom pole being a broom stick (might I add Warren losing the windsock, and then using an actual sock as a replacement), the incredibly hot apartment we spent a good 2 weeks shooting in, might I add that taking shits in the actors' apartment was completely unpleasant due to their putting the kitty litter box in the bathroom. On the other hand it's definitely been one of my favorite film experiences, and now I dread the day where I get back on a big budget shoot doing PA work again. Hilarious actors might I add...the fact that all the actors are good friends really made a difference. Holding back from laughing during the performances was really difficult...I recall one scene where Warren couldn't stop laughing and he had to hand the camera over to someone else to take over.

I still remember the very first day of shooting, we didn't end up shooting anything at all and just ended up smoking weed with the actors who I just met for the first time. That was pretty funny.

It was pretty awesome working with Warren, and I will gladly work with him again on any of his future projects. Okay I've rambled on long enough.

Note to everyone that sucks at lighting, which both Warren and I do...whenever you're in doubt, just bounce light off the ceiling.

Bravoie · 09-27-2009, 09:35 PM

Guys, it feels like the trailer drags out way too much, maybe because there are too many random sex jokes? I don't know, but I lost interest about half way through the trailer. The audio seems too loud in some places, like when the girl screams I lowered my volume and I wanted to turn it off. The storyline isn't very clear, either. My interpretation of the movie's plot is "guy acting in play tries to find happiness while his friends sit around in his apartment making dick jokes"... I don't know if that would interest viewers enough into wanting to see it, especially since it is feature length. That being said, I really liked the Brock character and I thought his bits were funny. Nice title and credit shots, too.

Warren Wagner · 09-28-2009, 01:56 AM

Thanks man for the honesty. I agree with you. I think I'm going to work on putting together a new trailer soon, because yeah... It doesn't show the story at all. I just suck at those kinds of things.

The movie is mostly about their relationship and its struggles and gets quite serious at many points. The side characters are all a lot of fun so I think that's why I focused on them a little too much. Also since no one knows these actors anyway, I'm going to put more footage in and less credits with the actors names.

I'll show you guys the new trailer once I get around to it. The film should be done soon, a first cut anyway.

Notch Johnson · 09-28-2009, 02:43 AM

looks like a testament to the fact that you can produce good material without money and without a crew. looks very unprofessional and cheap... but it doesn't matter, i was still entertained, and no non-film-makers will really care. it's a "Curb Your Enthusiasm" type vibe, which is really popular these days.

Domicile Destructo · 09-28-2009, 03:13 AM

I laughed pretty hard at the dahmer joke. Congratulations and good luck.

Pizza The Hut · 09-28-2009, 04:21 AM

Looks awesome.

Phil Williamson · 09-28-2009, 07:24 AM

Criticisms:
-The audio levels were really inconsistent, even constantly adjusting the volume back and forth I couldn't make everything out
-Why all the hand-held static camera shots? Seems like it could have benefited from a tripod in a lot of places
-The main actress is overacting
-Too much smoking! Having everyone constantly smoking a cigarette is one of my indie movie pet peeves.
-Yeah, too much sexual humor.

THAT SAID, I like the premise a lot and I think the main actor was really good. I'd definitely give this movie a shot.

The Chinese Jew · 09-28-2009, 08:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Phil Williamson

Criticisms:
-Too much smoking! Having everyone constantly smoking a cigarette is one of my indie movie pet peeves.

Agreed 100%! But, Warren happens to love his cigarettes, and like 95% of the cast were all smokers as well...not just smokers, but "I need to smoke a whole pack of cigarettes a day otherwise I'll go insane" smokers. When Warren got money from Qaz for the movie, one of Qaz's conditions was that Warren had to shoot an anti-smoking commercial and put it at the beginning of the DVD before the movie starts.

That was the shitty thing about the shoot. I went home reeking like cigarette smoke everyday, and I'm afraid of getting the second hand smoke kind of cancer. If that happens, Warren will be hearing from my Jewish lawyer very soon.

Allergic 2 Life · 09-28-2009, 09:10 PM

jeff ching is involved obviously theres a lot of sexual humor.

it was pretty good and i laughed. that the chick overacting a tad bit.

Warren Wagner · 09-28-2009, 09:38 PM

There is A LOT of smoking in the film. To me and the other actors, it feels so natural though since we all smoke so much. I'm not gonna apologize for that. I do feel bad that Jeff had to be around it so much since he hates smoking and usually when we're hanging out I'm outside when I smoke so it's not that bad for him.

I'm surprised you guys all think she's overacting. I disagree and think she's great in the film, but yeah... When I release another trailer, you'll see some of the more emotional stuff she had to do and I hope you guys will be impressed.

Skittlebrau · 09-28-2009, 09:49 PM

The background noise in the trailer during the dialogue was pretty noticable, but I dunno what you could do about that. You honestly could do to tighten this up way more. Cut it down to maybe, like, a minute. I didn't think the chick was overacting, but the whole of the dialogue occasionally felt kind of clumsily improvised or delivered, like at the beginning where the guy was asking her to move in. Try to focus more on the main characters. The side characters seemed like they got the best lines, but in the end they're not THAT important.

When it was funny, though, it was fucking FUNNY. I cracked up to the point of having to go back and rewind when he dropped the Jeffrey Dahmer line. Like, the stuff above is kind of nitpicky. You have some good stuff here.

09-26-2009, 04:37 AM	#1
Warren Wagner Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2002 Posts: 1,747	Jeff Ching and I made a movie For the past two months, Jeff Ching and I have been working our asses off on a feature film. It's been the best on set experience I've ever had. We never really ran into too many problems and things have been going great. We'd gotten lucky more than a few times with locations. We got a bar that let us shoot there for free, a video store that let us shoot there for a very small price, and a really beautiful theatre that let us shoot there for a very good price as well. The only damper on the shoot was that the real life couple who star as the leading couple in the film... Broke up the last day of shooting. We were all really bummed about that and it was kind of awkward. But they're still on good terms so it's not the end of the world. The only two crew members were Jeff Ching doing audio, and Me doing camera. For lighting we used 100 watt light bulbs and tried to go for a really natural look. I don't really have much else to say, but I want to start getting people interested in this movie so I'm trying to get the trailer out there as much as possible. I'm still editing the movie right now, which is a real challenge since the first rough cut was about 2 hours and 10 minutes long... Way too long for a comedy feature, so I want to cut it down to an hour and a half. So that's a work in progress. Anyway, here's the trailer and I hope you guys can enjoy it... We've put a lot of time and effort into this movie.
	Last edited by Warren Wagner : 09-26-2009 at 06:53 AM.

09-26-2009, 04:43 AM	#2
Mabdog Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 5,670	:O
Mabdog Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 5,670

09-26-2009, 08:32 AM	#4
Invisbl Shado Member Join Date: Apr 2002 Posts: 970	I think this community is moving on from making 3dmms to live action stuff, I dig it... Looks cool man, GL with it!
Invisbl Shado Member Join Date: Apr 2002 Posts: 970

09-26-2009, 08:35 AM	#5
Compcat Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 8,810	I like the trailer. Looking forward to the movie.
Compcat Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 8,810

09-27-2009, 09:35 PM	#12
Bravoie Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2001 Posts: 4,713	Guys, it feels like the trailer drags out way too much, maybe because there are too many random sex jokes? I don't know, but I lost interest about half way through the trailer. The audio seems too loud in some places, like when the girl screams I lowered my volume and I wanted to turn it off. The storyline isn't very clear, either. My interpretation of the movie's plot is "guy acting in play tries to find happiness while his friends sit around in his apartment making dick jokes"... I don't know if that would interest viewers enough into wanting to see it, especially since it is feature length. That being said, I really liked the Brock character and I thought his bits were funny. Nice title and credit shots, too.
Bravoie Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2001 Posts: 4,713

09-26-2009, 08:13 AM	#3
Rabid Dinosaur Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2002 Posts: 14,894	Haha, I liked the obnoxious drunk story. That was acted really well. Maybe too many dick jokes in the trailer? I don't know. Overall I think it looks pretty cool, though. I'd watch it, definitely. Did you write it?

09-26-2009, 02:04 PM	#6
Dave Miles Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2002 Posts: 10,236	this looks great.

09-26-2009, 02:20 PM	#7
Maritheclap Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2003 Posts: 1,916	Ok, I have some questions. Love the locations... the video store and theater seem to add really good production value. Also, what was your budget? And you only had you two as crew the ENTIRE TIME? Are you sending it to any film festivals? That blonde chick is so obnoxious. In a good way.

09-26-2009, 02:40 PM	#8
Warren Wagner Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2002 Posts: 1,747	Thanks guys for watching, it means a lot to me! Rabid: Yeah, I wrote it. I always mix cock/poo jokes in with serious drama, because to me it makes the jokes even funnier. So yeah... There are a lot, but that's a good point maybe a few too many in the trailer. There was also a lot of improv on set. I showed the actor's the script at the end of July, and said I wanted to start filming beginning of August. They were all down with it. Since everyone had so much going on, most of the time they'd learn lines on the day of shooting. Which I honestly feel helped out the performances because they were so fresh and a lot of improv as well. I never like actor's sticking to my script completely, I like being surprised. The budget was AROUND $1000 Canadian. Maybe a little more, maybe a little less. We didn't really want to spend too much on this movie. Scott (Qaz), Jeff, and I all put some money together to make it, but we didn't have a real budget, we just kinda put the money together as we needed it. So I feel pretty good that we made a feature we're proud of and are not in credit card debt. It was only Jeff and I the entire time. The last day of filming, at the theatre, we had a few PA's that were Jeff's friends, and we ended up hardly ever using them. I like doing a lot of stuff on my own because I hate telling people what to do. (Why I will never be a REAL director ) I'm editing the movie, but once we're done (Will be pretty soon, I've been editing every night after shooting) we are going to try to get it to as many festivals as possible. Best case scenerio as any indie film dreams... We'd love to get distribution. Movies like "Nights and Weekends" and "Puffy Chair" are filmed like ours and have gotten distribution from Netflix and IFC Films, which would be a dream come to. Thanks for watching guys! I hope I answered all the questions.

09-27-2009, 04:32 PM	#9
Warren Wagner Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2002 Posts: 1,747	http://www.audition-movie.com

09-27-2009, 09:06 PM	#11
The Chinese Jew Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2001 Posts: 14,225	Ever since Audition wrapped, it feels like we've been done the movie for a really long time when it's actually been only a week. For some reason it feels like it's been longer. This is definitely the lowest budget/most ghetto shoot I've ever been a part of. The boom pole being a broom stick (might I add Warren losing the windsock, and then using an actual sock as a replacement), the incredibly hot apartment we spent a good 2 weeks shooting in, might I add that taking shits in the actors' apartment was completely unpleasant due to their putting the kitty litter box in the bathroom. On the other hand it's definitely been one of my favorite film experiences, and now I dread the day where I get back on a big budget shoot doing PA work again. Hilarious actors might I add...the fact that all the actors are good friends really made a difference. Holding back from laughing during the performances was really difficult...I recall one scene where Warren couldn't stop laughing and he had to hand the camera over to someone else to take over. I still remember the very first day of shooting, we didn't end up shooting anything at all and just ended up smoking weed with the actors who I just met for the first time. That was pretty funny. It was pretty awesome working with Warren, and I will gladly work with him again on any of his future projects. Okay I've rambled on long enough. Note to everyone that sucks at lighting, which both Warren and I do...whenever you're in doubt, just bounce light off the ceiling.

09-28-2009, 01:56 AM	#13
Warren Wagner Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2002 Posts: 1,747	Thanks man for the honesty. I agree with you. I think I'm going to work on putting together a new trailer soon, because yeah... It doesn't show the story at all. I just suck at those kinds of things. The movie is mostly about their relationship and its struggles and gets quite serious at many points. The side characters are all a lot of fun so I think that's why I focused on them a little too much. Also since no one knows these actors anyway, I'm going to put more footage in and less credits with the actors names. I'll show you guys the new trailer once I get around to it. The film should be done soon, a first cut anyway.

09-28-2009, 02:43 AM	#14
Notch Johnson Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2003 Posts: 4,503	looks like a testament to the fact that you can produce good material without money and without a crew. looks very unprofessional and cheap... but it doesn't matter, i was still entertained, and no non-film-makers will really care. it's a "Curb Your Enthusiasm" type vibe, which is really popular these days.

09-28-2009, 03:13 AM	#15
Domicile Destructo Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2003 Posts: 7,405	I laughed pretty hard at the dahmer joke. Congratulations and good luck.

09-28-2009, 04:21 AM	#16
Pizza The Hut Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2002 Posts: 10,633	Looks awesome.

09-28-2009, 07:24 AM	#17
Phil Williamson Super Moderator Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 16,900	Criticisms: -The audio levels were really inconsistent, even constantly adjusting the volume back and forth I couldn't make everything out -Why all the hand-held static camera shots? Seems like it could have benefited from a tripod in a lot of places -The main actress is overacting -Too much smoking! Having everyone constantly smoking a cigarette is one of my indie movie pet peeves. -Yeah, too much sexual humor. THAT SAID, I like the premise a lot and I think the main actor was really good. I'd definitely give this movie a shot.

09-28-2009, 09:10 PM	#19
Allergic 2 Life Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2001 Posts: 11,459	jeff ching is involved obviously theres a lot of sexual humor. it was pretty good and i laughed. that the chick overacting a tad bit.

09-28-2009, 09:38 PM	#20
Warren Wagner Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2002 Posts: 1,747	There is A LOT of smoking in the film. To me and the other actors, it feels so natural though since we all smoke so much. I'm not gonna apologize for that. I do feel bad that Jeff had to be around it so much since he hates smoking and usually when we're hanging out I'm outside when I smoke so it's not that bad for him. I'm surprised you guys all think she's overacting. I disagree and think she's great in the film, but yeah... When I release another trailer, you'll see some of the more emotional stuff she had to do and I hope you guys will be impressed.

09-28-2009, 09:49 PM	#21
Skittlebrau Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2001 Posts: 8,804	The background noise in the trailer during the dialogue was pretty noticable, but I dunno what you could do about that. You honestly could do to tighten this up way more. Cut it down to maybe, like, a minute. I didn't think the chick was overacting, but the whole of the dialogue occasionally felt kind of clumsily improvised or delivered, like at the beginning where the guy was asking her to move in. Try to focus more on the main characters. The side characters seemed like they got the best lines, but in the end they're not THAT important. When it was funny, though, it was fucking FUNNY. I cracked up to the point of having to go back and rewind when he dropped the Jeffrey Dahmer line. Like, the stuff above is kind of nitpicky. You have some good stuff here.