Tonight

Tonight is the night.

The night all the work is done.

The night when the lights dim, the music starts and a story unfolds.

Tonight was the premiere of Ironwing.

Note: The url at the end of the trailer is to a private blog. Attempts to hack will be shot down by acid firing laser robots.  :P

That's a wrap!

Filming has wrapped on Ironwing!

After a long, rainy and exhausting last Saturday of filming (during which I was beat up by girls multiple times...), we finished!
After a bit of trouble (including difficulties surrounding the procuring a suitable a boat, getting a means of transporting it, not being able to find any extras, and a thunderstorm) the last two fight scenes were finished, and some of the most lengthy bits of dialogue completed in record time!

The sky was steely, the rain intermittent, the water dark... all perfect for probably the darkest moment of the film. That valley at the very end when nothing seems to go right, when everything the heroes have worked for comes crashing down.

But fear not! The sun always comes out brighter when the storm clouds pass, and so it will be with Ironwing. 

Now comes post-production, that lengthy, complicated process of editing, scoring, special effects, lighting, etc. etc. Fun stuff. :) Wish us luck!

The Ironwing

A bit of metal caught on a string

A feathered scrap of cold hard steel

A weathered bit of history and pride

Caught the light on its furrowed keel

A strange shape for such a metal

A thing of the day shaped with blackest night

A token hung on leather ties

Gleams in the dark like a faerie light

A symbol of those who have come before

A bringer of hope, and joy, and pain

A witness to wars long since come and gone

Glistens with the fire and cries with the rain

What is this scrap of steel so bright?

Whence comes this pendant worthy of a king?

Who has worn this mixing of strength and flight?

Who forged this masterful Iron-wing?

Filming

Filming continues apace on Ironwing, with only two days of principal photography left!

Sets have been made...

Props gathered...

And more sets made!

Lines have been memorized...

More stuff gathered...

And haversacks clothes-pinned with infinite care by yours truly.

We're almost done!

Ironwing

Hey everyone! I apologize for posts between few and far between (and not that great to boot :P), but I have an explanation! Most of which involves scriptediting and planning for this:

Actual filming commences in five days, and I am super excited, to say the least. I mean, all the trailer is is me and my brother running around epicly in the rain with Breggo chasing us with the camera! So to begin actual acting against the other super talented actors will be a huge treat.

Now, if I can just perfect that tinge of a Scottish accent... :P

Deep Red- #3

Heh heh. A week after I say I'm back, I realize I haven't posted anything. Sorry, I've been getting ready for the When Darkness Falls premiere and scripting Ironwing (my tv-show project) with Breggo.

Anyways, more Deep Red! Oh, and the text should be big enough to read now :)

Of Characters and Collaboration

Well, today I break my alliteration. Notice the C's instead of S's?

But that's not why you're reading... (I don't know, maybe it is). You're reading to find out about characters! Well, here they come!

When I and my fellow conspirators were brainstorming about this project, we wanted to make sure everyone was as involved and excited as the director and producer were. Not only does this mean less work for us (he he), but it means we aren't working with actors and crew who'd rather not be there. That gets old real quick, let me tell you.

So! What do we do? Seeing as this is a character-driven story, we decided to let each actor have a major hand in their own characters! Breggo wrote up this nifty character sheet with a score or so of questions which helped each actor peg down the kind of person they wanted to play. And hey, if someone's asking to play the bad guy (he'd been the good guy for the past three or so movies), by all means!

So, what sort of characters did we come up with?

1. Fengrid, an apprentice hunter. Recently returned from a journey in the lands beyond, he comes back to find his former master dead on his own hearth. Vowing vengeance, he sets out to bring his killer to justice. But his path will take him places he never expected. For 'justice' is not what it seems in these woods.

2. Adelyn, an apprentice hunter. When she finds her new master dead, she is immediately suspicious of Fengrid, and her suspicions seem to be verified when she finds that he has disappeared. Determined to find him, she sets out on his trail. But soon she finds that just as she is tracking Fengrid, so someone appears to be tracking her.

3. Jarl, the Marshall of the forest. The voice and hand of the law in the forest, Jarl continually finds his efforts to bring justice to evildoers hampered by the strict code of the law he upholds. And so he takes up the mask of a vigilante, dealing out to criminals their just deserts. But the code was put in place for a reason, and the power that comes from dealing outside of it soon turns him to even darker decisions.

4. Carldon, a young scamp and thief. An orphan whose brother is off patrolling the forest border. Left without a family, Carldon has been forced to take care of himself. His thievery, however, is mostly allowed, since he always pays... with small piles of feathers. Despite his faults, none know the paths of the forest and the quickest ways better than him.

5. The Lady of Glencott dale. Currently unnamed, this mysterious lady lives alone in a ramshackle hut and is known for not being known. No one ventures near her for reasons not exactly understood, but greatly feared. Except for Carldon, who has been seen trespassing with apparent impunity on the circle of forest she claims. Legend claims, however, that she talks to herself or her teapots, and that, of course, is fair enough reason to stay well away.

Well, those be the cast of characters we plan on bringing to life sometime this summer! And that concludes this short series on the necessary ingredients of a good film. But this film still has a while to go, so there'll be more info popping up here, including, of course, the name of the series... which we still haven't figured out...

What's next, you ask? Well, Breggo's working on the script, we've a few more names to figure out, and I've got some concept sketches I've got to dash off here soon. Maybe I'll put a few up here! Until next time, then;

Farjag

Of Story and Setting

So, we got the structure and script last post; now story and setting!

Now, I have trouble writing scripts, (Just yesterday me and Breggo agreed to transfer scriptwriting responsibilities), for the simple reason that I find it hard to connect on an emotional level with a format that doesn't really allow a lot of room for moments of silence, eyebrow raises, withering glares, etc. I just find the formatting constricting. I can direct a movie, produce a movie, or act in a movie, but I just can't write the script. It's annoying, trust me.

But even though that's the case, I can still pitch a good story. And we need a good story, because with the rather strict structure we have to follow, (keeping the episodes small enough so they won't take up a lot of time or actors) there needs to be a very clear plot line and character arcs. Because when you cut down on scale, special effects, even time, all that matters is the characters. If the audience doesn't connect with the characters, or they are too flat, or never change, then the project is a failure. (Box-office flop! :P)

So what are we left with? A character-driven story set somewhere quiet. It's a lot like a design project in my classes, you are given certain requirements and restrictions and have to create a solution that solves all problems and does not go beyond the limits. And there's one final restriction; bad guy minions. Now this may seem to fall under the "Not too many extras" category, it's a little more complicated than that. Because what are minions for? Being beat up by the heroes. Which means you need a lot. And unless you mask them, you can't use the same actors over and over again. And how many movies have the generic "Black-masked ninja minions"? Too many. A few of ours, to be perfectly honest. So we must create a villain without minions. Tricky. But that's where designing comes in. To paraphrase a good friend of mine, "Use the restrictions to your advantage." In other words "Think outside the box, then use the box."

I mean, how many villains do you know who don't have some sort of minions? Not many. And that's what makes this story special. Because we are left with a villain who must turn the heroes on each other to accomplish his goal. And that's pretty cool, if you ask me.

So, what's our plot? To summarize (Without spoilers!):

When a revered master hunter is found dead in his home, suspicion falls on his former apprentice. To prove his innocence, he sets out on the trail of the mysterious vigilante he knows is responsible. But when he finally catches up to his prey, he finds something he did not expect.

So now that we have a plot, we need a place to put it, a setting for our story. Well, we know we need to keep extras down, as well as sets simple. Now I don't know about you, but nothing is easier to film in than the woods. No worries about anything being in the shot that's not supposed to be there, there's nothing to set-up, and you can move a stone's throw down the trail and film an entirely different scene. So, we came up with a great Forest, whose folk live in on small farms scattered throughout. This creates a loosely tied society, where there are no towns, but perhaps a market, no taverns, but perhaps a watering hole. It also allows for a character interaction that works quite well in episode form. The heroes meet one person in the woods, he helps them out, then can disappear for a while before coming back. It's not like some shows you see where some random person (who's supposedly been living in town all this time) pops up for one episode, then vanishes without a trace (even though he never left town). When the people are scattered around a huge forest, it's less likely they'll meet up often.

Of course, this begs the question, who exactly lives in this great Forest? What characters shall we meet in this tale? Well, that comes next time! Try not to die of anxiety in the meantime :)

Of Celluloid, Scripts and Structure

Well, some of ya'll might know, and some of ya'll might not, but, in addition to being a writer, I do a great deal of dabbling in directing. As of right now, I am one credits song and some cg shots away from finishing my current movie (which I happen to have been working on for two years now), so it's time to start a new one!

I will actually not be directing this particular one, my good friend Breggo will, (He's the one who cowrote the Soldier's Words song with me), so I fall into my common role of Producer. Which basically means I'm responsible for making sure everything gets done and can be done. We don't have a castle? We'll build one! We don't have a waterfall? Switch it to a quiet pond.

However, I also happen to be the scriptwriter on this one. Which is tricky. Why? Because I am not a scriptwriter. I am a novel writer. Script formatting annoys me. In fact, even though I am writing in the script in a slightly organized way, I am absconding the usual formatting for my own invention, which basically reads like parts of the Old English Pilgrim's Progress. You know, where they have:

Christian: bla bla bla

Faithful: bla bla bla

Chris: bla bla bla

Faith: bla bla bla

Anyways... that's pretty close to how I'm doing it. Because, in the end, it really doesn't matter how the paper is set up, as long as the story is told well and comes across the right way. So, before I can even set about writing the script, we have to have a good story. But before we get that, we have to have a structure. Because not only does it have to be a good story, but we have to be able to tell it well. And that means we get a few practical limitations.

1. We have to be able to film most (if not all), in camera. Special effects and computer graphics can be done, but for a no-budget film... yea. It becomes hard to find free stuff there.

2. We have to have enough actors. When your extras are under twenty, you can't do a full-scale battle. Well, you can... but it won't look good. (Trust me, I speak from experience)

3. We have to have good locations. We don't have the luxury of Peter Jackson to be able to go to New Zealand. Which means any locations 1) need to be close and 2) have to look semi-realistic without too much modification. We can't exactly build Helm's Deep in the back woods.

4. We have to keep the time requirements down. Most of our actors are at least in high school if not college, probably have a part time job, and definitely have a family who takes first precedence. If we can do it just as well in a shorter time, then don't do it

So, what are we left with? A short movie, with minimal actors, minimal locations, and nothing too spectacular. And after much debate and discussion, me and Breggo think we have the answer. A series of short episodes focusing around four or five main characters, all set out in the woods. And because we can, and we love to, it's set in a middle ages period. Bring out the swords, baby!

What's next? The story! But that's coming next post. Hold onto your seats till then, folks!

Farjag, Producer/Scriptwriter