Locations

[Sheridan Passell]

Dalmatian Jaws, do you have access to any sorta interesting locations out there in L.A.? Deserted house in the woods, factory, whatever. We have to write what's practical to film.

[dalmatianjaws]

Hmmm. My friends used to have a cabin in Big Bear ... ...

Pros and cons to shooting in Los Angeles.

Everyone works in the film industry or has first hand experience in the film industry, so they'll charge you lots of money for everything.

This also means there's tons of struggling artists and craftsmen willing to work for free or cheap cause they gotta work on SOMETHING.

Depends on how much cash we have, which we should assume is nothing at this point!

The best bet is to do it in a surrounding county outside LA. If you can find cheap housing or work off someone's personal property, all the better. That way it's a simple drive for equipment and such but you're away from the big city. If it's a bit more mom 'n' pop then folks tend to let you film for free and help you out.

I worked on a crappy film in LA country and we were filming without a permit so we got kicked out. We went to Visalia and needed to shoot a scene where a guy almost gets hit by a train or big truck.  We simply asked a trucking company and they provided the truck and driver for free! It was amazing.

As for personal connections ... no. Not in Los Angeles. I ahve friends with wooded property in Washington State.

[Sheridan Passell]

Well first up we're not going to have any money, I don't think any dentists are going to invest in a bear movie. I highly recommend renting Monsturd - They certainly didn't spend any money, but got their film distributed.

Can we film in woodland in the outskirts of LA without a permit?

[Tori]

See if you can just find some random woods, if you dont get caught its not like someones gonna recognize the trees..... Theres woods behind my parents house filmed a school project about a fake civil war battle back there, horrible horrible short film and no budget but it worked out ok.

[twaddington]

We need to get those Abu Dhabi guys who own Man City to invest, if they're willing to try and get Kaka for £100 mill then surely they'll give us a couple of million for this film.
Any idea when you're gonna start shooting?

[Sheridan Passell]

No firm timescale yet, I'm happy for it to drift on for a while and just collect amusing material. The sub-editor wants to do a first draft in a couple of months.

[Prof. Loug]

Dalmation Jaws, this needs to be old school guerilla film making - no budget, no permits. We should think about shooting on DV, which means negligable stock costs, no development costs, easy transfer into editing software. We can grade the footage afterwards to give it a "35mm look"...

[dnwilliams]

also, depending on the camera you use, you can put a pretty decent lens on there even if you are shooting dv, to give it proper depth.

[dalmatianjaws]

Prof Loug: for sure. We need to have some un-notarized agreement about who controls the footage when we're done, etc. But no actual companies that can get sued. That way, if anyone gets pissed, there's no entity to come after. I HIGHLY doubt it will come to that, but you never know. America is so f'in sue happy. Anyway, we need to get no sleep, have no pay, and just sneak in everywhere. SO much fun and the vibe will definately translate to the final product.

Dnwill: I have a canon xh-a1 with a 72mm zoom built in and a wide angle adapter. There is an adapter you can buy/rent for that camera that lets you connect still camera lenses to the front! I've seen the footage online, it kicks ass. But even if we don't have that, it's okay if it has a digital look. As long as we can accept the limitations of two lens size options, we can use tricks to achieve more depth of field (ie, framing farther back and zooming in for the actual shot you want).

[dalmatianjaws]

There are so many folks putting in their two pence from England that it seems wrong to exclude them from filming. While I understand the strengths and weaknesses of filming in Los Angeles and the absolute lack of budget, I propose we film SOMETING in England.

Here's what I think it should be: the set-up for the sequel. Maybe at the end of the movie they drown the bear in the atlantic ocean and assume he's dead but he swims across. Or something. It would be great to fade to black, then fade up (before or after credits) in Hyde Park and just have a couple of stodgy old men with pipes and tweed jackets get taken out by Grizzlepaw or Grizzlepaw Jr.

If England can supply the manpower I'm sure I could pay my way over there with the camera. It could be a total blast and a great way to kind of pay back everyone's effort online even if we film the bulk in L.A.

thoughts?

[dnwilliams]

a couple of stodgy old men with pipes and tweed jackets get taken out by Grizzlepaw or Grizzlepaw Jr.

i love it. national stereotyping included. especially as it reminds me of the epilogue in the happening, where the happening starts happening in france.

[dalmatianjaws]

Haha, that's so true.

I was in England in 2004 and saw three old men in tweed jackets with english riding caps and pipes all walking in unison through Hyde Park with their hands clasped behind their backs. It was amazing. I stalked them and got photos.

[David Hawk]

Well we have an abundance of forest areas over here in Blighty and if we can film anywhere near me in Bristol (about 2hrs from London) then we have access to cameras, dolly, lights etc etc for virtually nothing.