BLOOD TIES wins "BEST INT'L FEATURE FILM" at U.K. Fest

I just returned from Merry Old England and the End Of The Pier Film Festival in Worthing, UK. Evidently a great time of year - the weather was cold and rainy one day and fantastic the next, and then back to rain. (Sounds like winter in Atlanta!)  Worthing is south of London, on the coast, and surrounded by the history we spent time studying in books and school. The fest itself was tightly run, and had a huge turnout for the opening gala as well as some of the select films.  BLOOD TIES had it's first real screening outside of the United States. It screened in a proper theater and was really well received, and was in competition for Best Int'l Feature. Pretty cool as its a fast growing fest with work from all over the world, and it's really fun to know that with the sensibilities and views of a European audience, BT can compete and play.  After all, though I live in the US, I of course want to think the rest of the world would appreciate our work too! I got to see some really strong, significant films from a dozen countries. This is their 6th year and their reputation is increasing exponentially, and so they had several hundred submissions from all over Europe, a few from the US, and films from China, Israel, Russia, Australia, and of course others.

The programmers and the Fest Director Bryan Gartside (a film maker himself) are like many of the fest directors I have met; they really care about films. In the case of Bryan and his team, Roz, Rob, and Linda, they are really intent on finding and promoting film makers who not only do significant work, but are learning and growing even as their fest is.  I was treated with respect and enthusiasm by everyone I met, and the audiences are inquisitive and really excited to see the variety of work coming into their town.  Worthing is just the right size and location to bring in audiences and yet still be accessible to the city. In talking to Bryan and Rob James (their tech advisor along with his other hundred duties, they told me that they accept and judge films not just on their technical prowess - with all the usual categories for competition in sound, editing, etc... but were really searching for and taking into account the intangible, visceral qualities, the ability for any film to effect and move them and the audience.  I think that recognition and search for such an undefinable quality is one of the things that makes this fest so exciting and full of possibilities for for film makers and the promotion of our films.

Their are also some real opportunities for showcasing some of the winners in an alliance of film fests they have created throughout Europe and that means in effect that a film that does well at EOTP film fest might end up being shown in another dozen fests around the world with the push coming not from the filmmakers themselves but by the fest directors and other members for the alliance!  I'll definitely post more about these possibilities as I learn more about them.

I'll write more about all my impressions, and am excited that BLOOD TIES has now been seen on the other side of the world (okay okay, "The Pond").  I'll also talk more about the adventures in the small towns, the dozens of small cars they have and we don't, the sad English idea of breakfast, the trains, Brighton, and my first real castle (the castle at Disney just doesn't count any more!!!)  I really encourage all film makers to submit and be a part of this particular fest - it's an awesome feeling to know you are being seen by audiences so far away from where your project started.

Oh yeah, BLOOD TIES won "BEST INT'L FEATURE FILM!!

I'll post much more about the entire experience and have some new stills and frame grabs from KERBEROS to put up soon.  Back to making movies!!!

Festival link 

kely

http://www.bloodtiesmovie.com

http://www.kerberosbites.com

http://www.dusttoheaven.com

DUST TO HEAVEN

Someday I'll make a film without cursing and killing, but DUST TO HEAVEN is not it. A love story, a sweet, poignant tale, and a bittersweet film about the power of commitment and the reality of forever. Peaceful, gentle camerawork; smooth dollys and graceful sweeps of a room painted in color, light, and shadow. Evocative dialog, powerful emotion, resonating themes.

But a bit of rough language, a shocking bit of violence, shattered bones along with the shattered lives. The pain of regret salved by an eternal love. Cursing and killing. Oh well, maybe the next one. Oh wait - that's BLACK HEART - and it will have more violence than all my other stories put together... eeeshhh...

kely


http://www.kerberosbites.com
http://www.bloodtiesmovie.com
http://www.dusttoheaven.com

Exciting year ahead for KERBEROS film maker Kely McClung

First day of the New Year, and I am thrilled to get to work on the movie! What a blessing!

As life working on films blends from one day to the next, the upcoming year will be really exciting. So, putting it out there into the cosmos some of the work for my coming months.

Finish KERBEROS. Though of course there are compromises in all film making, especially with a lower budget masquerading as a big budget action film, everything tells me we are onto something really good.

Filming starts again in 10 days, and will be pushing hard to have our first screening by the end of April.

Sell BLOOD TIES. With a dozen offers on the table and contracts in hand, we are actually working out the details now. I think it could finally get out there within the next couple months.

Of course, besides the full post on KERBEROS, I am doing the trailers, the posters, the box covers, and the websites for both films.

Even before KERBEROS is done, I will shoot a short film that I am excited about - DUST TO HEAVEN. Like my film AM SESSION, it is in part to enjoy the creative process, partly to learn and push my boundaries, and also to let people know that low budget action films are not where I am going in the future.

Then, people will laugh but I can't wait to do it, I have another feature film I will take on that if remotely successful, will have some people's mouths dropping open. (all to be shot in one weekend!)

I have another short film - (I've wanted to do for a year now) - I hope to shoot over the summer, TEARS, dealing with conflict deaths around the world and with both our apathy and unawareness of them.

Having just co-directed and shot a music video for SPEECH (Arrested Development), I have the bug to shoot at a couple music videos early this year. At least one will be for KATY J, the singer songwriter from LA who will showcase some of her songs and voice in KERBEROS.

If the opportunity arises, I have another music video written out for my friend ADRIANA MEZZADRI. If I can make it happen, I will shoot it in her country of Brazil.

If I can help direct the writing talents of AMANDA McCARTHY, (THE DARK PLACES) and some of the artists I've met over the past couple years, I'll lend my eye and direction to at least one animated short this year as well. Like the other projects, it will push my abilites, bring some new knowledge and technical skills, and be FUN! Amanda's too talented to sit around waiting for me so I need to get on it...

And then there is BLACK HEART, my next action flick. If I am remotely on schedule, I will begin scouting Thailand, Australia, and the Canadian Rockies in mid summer to begin filming by early fall. With a bigger and better budget, and a couple name actors, even more opportunities should open up and reflect back on these.

Factor the first 6 months work, and I will finally be able to present my director's reel to Hollywood - agents and studios - and see where that takes me while pushing ahead on BLACK HEART and the marketing and sales of BT and K*. The graphics, the music, and the layout are now done and ready for me to populate it with the strong, evocative images I am becoming known for.

So by this time next year?

If I can stay on schedule, with a bit of luck, I'll finally tackle ALTERED, the film I have known for several years that will put me on the map. I feel I will have the resources and experience to do it justice.

It is all a lot to do - but as I do more - I find myself more and more excited about creating even more work; not just for myself but for growing network of talented people who I've been able to involve on these past few projects. The joy of creating and working and sharing with these people feeds my desire for us all to do even more.

I've received lots of requests over the past couple years, and especially since I have hit the festival circuit and started being active on many film forums and film making websites, and I have promised to put up some of the basic steps in my tackling the color grading for my work, so I need to get to that today, edit a scene I shot a couple weeks ago for ROB PRALGO's ZOMBIE INVASION, so I can get back to KERBEROS by the weekend.

luck to all

Kely McClung

"talking people and doing people - for myself, I hope to do"


http://www.bloodtiesmovie.com/
http://www.kerberosbites.com/

KERBEROS - Hell Continues into 2009!

Been awhile.. and I still haven't finished filming. End of the year so production will spill into 2009.

Still, I've been working. The edit of all filmed scenes is done, have filmed a couple new scenes, put together a new crew for the final week of shooting coming up. Have worked out a half dozen different title sequences and finally settled on one that I am excited about. Also filmed and co-directed a music video for Speech, the lead singer of Arrested Development. I was brought into that project by my friend Future - very talented and very experienced at music videos, especially of this nature. So, certainly got to contribute as director and DP, and learn at the same time. Am excited to see what Future does with the edit so I can then add another layer of effects and color grading over it.

Since the American Film Market in November, my hands have been full fielding offers on my first film, BLOOD TIES, as well as both interest and offers for KERBEROS. Of course making a film is one thing, and selling it an entirely different endeavor. We are pretty well settled on a couple different options, and trying to determine not only which is best for each of these films, but what strategically helps my future films and my career. Lots of factors to take in, best guesses to make, and mistakes to be made and then made up for.

No matter which we end up going, I am spending time upgrading and finalizing trailers, the website (new version up soon), sell sheets and posters. A lot of work, not only for the designs and presentation to be worked out, but the sheer amount of information and files accessed to create the trailers. Even my Photoshop files for the posters are nearing 600 to 700 MB, so files move slowly.

In couple days, I get to help my friend Rob Pralgo by directing a scene on his Zombie movie, Zombie Invasion. Maybe I'll get bit... by the bug to make a horror film, or at least a Zombie flick! Already got the itch to make a couple music videos, and am planning on shooting at least two this spring for Katy J, the singer/song writer who is contributing so much to KERBEROS. If things go right, I'll then get to Brazil in late spring to write and direct another for my friend and her fabulous voice, Adriana Mezzadri.

Maybe the hardest part for most people in making a movie, at least at this level of very limited budgets, is the perseverance to finish it, to push through the set backs that are inevitable on any project that relies on so many other people's time and talents. Much of the glamour that is supposed by the world's perception of the life of a filmmaker, is spent in long hours alone; thinking, creating, struggling for meaning of images and words, and the joy - in these days of digital creation - of long, almost crippling hours in front of a computer. Whatever else gets said about me, no one will ever accuse me of giving in or giving up. I am really proud of the work everyone has done on it, and my ability to 'direct' them into something that will surprise a lot of people, even me sometimes!

So, a couple big holidays and a couple weeks away from bringing back my friend Tony Mennaci (Stan Harrington) from LA, so I can create some more cinematic violence and emotion...

For our latest short piece of action, check out jail flashback


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2w4giPDf8oc

Don't forget to vote or comment if you are logged in, and of course if you like it, pass it on.

KERBEROS - struggle for the perfect movie.

It's been awhile since I've written but not since I worked to get this movie finished. I work every day and nearly every hour I am awake, trying to make the perfect film while knowing full well that it won't even be close. Still, it is filled with perfect moments, most probably so subtle and trivial to be unnoticed by anyone but me.

With elections, major and minor storms, the local gas crisis and the world wide financial crisis, one would think the movie might take a back seat.

Just as everybody has their issues, some life and death, this movie is mine - and is very much a part of striving for the life and career I want and the even contributing to the future well being of all those involved. These are people who put there trust in me; with their talent, their time, and their money. So maybe it seems like overstating it, but I don't think so; and I take the responsibility seriously.

My AD has been pulled away by prior obligations, and as he was wearing the many hats I piled on him, I've been forced to don a few more. It's been a major challenge to get people to the locations on time, fighting for continuity with the actor's looks, vehicles, and schedules in order to keep the picture coherent. Dragging the production of movie out in order to save tens of thousands of dollars is the frustrating but necessary evil of my day.

And the result?

I have manged to knock out a couple more scenes including the last five minutes of the movie with a first stab at the credit sequence. Some might think that's putting the cart before the horse, but having helped edit a half dozen films, producing 3, and directing and completing an award winning action feature and a prestigious received dramatic short, so I know there is no film until ALL elements are created and signed off on.

I remain thrilled with the high level of acting, and the quality of the filming continues to improve in every way. Nearly 60 minutes of scenes have been edited. A 20 second shootout from 18 people has been created with over 400 composited layers to create the gun flashes, squibs, debris, and smoke that help tell the story. Our production levels went up again with the completion of our first aerial shots - a part of the ending credit sequence.

The helicopter shots were rewarding, and though I am always aware of the the final shot - with no one watching really caring how they came to be, I still take pride in forcing the issue by searching for and finding an enthusiastic pilot, (who had never done this kind of flying before), getting our picture car towed to the set when it broke down at the last minute in a city and time where there is no gas to be found, getting the shots required when I had never even been in a helicopter before, and of course saving money by getting what I needed in the 30 minutes I was in the air.

Is it perfect? No. Or maybe it is... The rawness of the shots seem to fit the rest of our movie perfectly. If that's the movie I end up with - a perfectly flawed film about flawed characters surviving their flawed lives - I'll be perfectly happy!

Kely McClung
trading in my hats for a crash helmet...

http://www.kerberosbites.com/
http://www.bloodtiesmovie.com/

The Glamour of Making Movies!

Exciting! Let's see - get up at 5:30 am, edit a couple hours, go have coffee - pretending to be normal and catch up on the news, then back to editing until noon. Super quick workout, back to editing - picture, sound, color correction, rendering, backing up, logging, checking the script, archiving, adjusting, planning pick ups and reshoots. Make calls and start lining up the rest of the shoot days. Going over the schedule, adjusting, making calls, adjusting. Editing until 7 or 8 pm. Quick dinner. Editing until 11 or 12, quick shower and start again the next day. The good news - there are only seven days a week. The bad news - there are only seven days a week...

6 - 8 months of this and we should have a movie! Then comes the long 3 or 4 day vacation and if things go right - I'll get to start again.

Pretty glamorous! But someday - if it all really goes forward the way I'm hoping and working toward - I'll live in a bigger house, drive a nicer car, sleep in a bigger bed - and get up at 5:30 am, edit for a couple hours. go have coffee - catch up on the news...

Kely

KERBEROS Movie - Ambitious Work

KERBEROS film director Kely McClung, on pushing himself and others to raise their levels and ambitions...

I just returned from a much needed rest and a rejuvenation period by watching other's work and being lucky enough to mentor and encourage filmmakers on their own efforts at the Indie Fest USA Film Festival in Downtown Disney.

Though I had meetings with both distributors and post production companies in LA, I was lucky enough to see a dozen films (shorts and features), and get to spend time beyond the two workshops I presented on film making with several other directors, actors, and producers. I also got to see and know the Indie Fest festival directors Ray and Don that much more. These two guys are really dedicated to presenting and creating a first class festival without compromising their status as 'really nice guys'!

The fest itself was definitely bigger and better than last year where our film BLOOD TIES won the top award, "Best of Festival". It's nice to see the progression and to be a part of things as they grow. I was invited to present 4 of the awards including the Best Feature and Best of Festival.

A big part of my reason for accepting the invitation was the opportunity to see the KERBEROS trailer and a couple of select scenes on the big screens at the Disney AMC Theaters. These screens, projectors, and sound systems are about as good as it gets, and watching the projected images on a 60 foot screen is fantastic feedback for where I am going with the final look, grading, and sound design of KERBEROS.

Part of my developing style is the use of many close up and very few cutaways - once we are in on a dialog scene - I tend to stay in. Of course, the scene has to work on an I-Pod as well as a big screen TV, and hopefully work the rare times it gets projected.

From my own perspective and the other couple dozen people who saw the work in the theater, it does. And works well. Really well. Cool!

It's nice to move on with confidence that I can satisfy my own standards. As a filmmaker, at least at the stage I am in making independent films, that is the main requirement.

One of the things I am struck with at the various festivals I have attended, is what I perceive as a lack of ambition. It's hard for me to understand and hard to define. Time after time, I see work which is poorly shot, has nearly no evident attention paid to art direction, lighting, costumes, acting, story, or sound design and delivery.

Having watched such films, I have to wonder why they were made, and/or what need they satisfied in the filmmakers and those involved.

The good news, I think, is that instead of patting myself on the back, I get so fearful that I too may get caught in the trap of thinking my own work is better than it is, that I find myself re-examining and renewing my commitment to work even harder at raising the level of my films. BLOOD TIES benefited from that push and now I am excited to try to take KERBEROS even further than we originally envisioned.

My advice to other filmmakers, should any be reading these words, is to not only raise your own ambitions, but work hard enough to reach them.

As the world's favorite Jedi Master stated: "Do or do not - there is no try."

Couple quick notes on the fest itself. Besides the other films and winners, Stan Harrington (our 'be-hated' - my newest made up word - Tony Menacci) screened two of his own films, IT'S ALL A GAME and SO YOU WANT MICHAEL MADSON?

"Madson" was nominated for several awards and "Game" won "Best Comedy". Not bad - in fact - pretty damn good! And they were good. I am hoping 'Madson' gains the legs it deserves. The content and structure are really done well, and the content immediately relevent to filmmakers of all levels. Plus, it's fun seeing a man who is becoming a 'icon' captured in his unihibited, natural state - and seeing his own love and enthusiasm for both films and filmmakers.

Congrats again Stan. And if anybody was at the fest to see the girls hanging on Stan's arms, including his beautiful date Meghan Cox, they would understand where the moniker 'Stan the Man' comes from!

Stan also arranged for So-Cal rocker Katy J to perform at the House of Blues after party - and within the first few notes of her first song - I knew one of the biggest unknown pieces to KERBEROS had been found. Katy J rocks! With voice, style, and presentation reminiscent of Melissa Ethridge, Chrissie Hynde, and Sheryl Crow, it's like she fights and frequently loses the battle to contain the power and angst in her voice and lyrics. And the girl can play guitar - not play... PLAY guitar. Watching Katy J perform made me want to jump on my return flight early and get back to work. And meeting and talking with her after her set, even in just those few minutes where everyone else was demanding her attention, it's obvious she is a real person delivering the real deal - a glimpse of that intangible element we call 'soul' as she performs.

I'm excited that she seemed genuinely excited to contribute her songs and talents to KERBEROS! I know the level of my film just jumped up again.

So it's back to work. The three-headed monster is growling, slobbering, and gnawing on me to get back to it.

Kely McClung

Kely McClung on being the "coolest filmmaker on the planet"

I go out to coffee and the paper nearly every morning. My attempt at being sociable. Being a regular at a bunch of regular places gets me the inevitable question of "what do you do?" I'm a filmmaker. "Oh yeah, that sounds really cool." Yeah it is. "Where can I see your work?" Well right now, just on the web. "What's your name again?" Just look up "coolest filmmaker on the planet". "Really? That is cool!"

It's actually best to go the same places every day so the 'asking' doesn't happen so often.

If being cool was the requirement, then I would really get tossed out... of course if the requirement included confining oneself to only making films, I'd never get in!

The cool people spent the 4th of July upstairs on the roof of our downtown building looking out at a half dozen fireworks shows across the city. And though I stopped up for about 10 minutes, I came back to work on the film until long after the last cherry bomb and firecracker echoed through the streets. Pretty sure the really cool people slept in the next day, stumbled out of bed looking all cool and all, but I was up as the sun rose and started piecing together what we have done into some semblance of a story.

So one might think that making movies is all I do, that the obsession is all encompassing. It's not. Or maybe it is. I just think the defination of being a filmmaker has broadened out.

For one, I have my girlfriend. And though I don't see her or spend as much time as I want with her and her life, she is in my thoughts always. Knowing she is there is a comfort and a strength to me, and I am grateful.

Making a movie with my limited resources does not mean I am a one man band (was trying to work in "director" there as in band director but guess I'm not that clever i.e."cool").

Still, for those who take on the making of a movie, or film, or whatever the accepted word is now that digital acquisition blurs the traditional definitions, here are a few of the other things someone needs to take on.

Blogs. They are fun. They are cool. And also take a bit of work. Writing these are part of my commitment to myself and in hopes that they can help document the process for others to either take comfort in, warn off, or get a laugh from. We did almost no documentation on the making of BLOOD TIES, and I am trying hard to do better.

Business cards. A person needs an identity as they go out into the world and recruit support for locations, catering, equipment, etc... Not to be taken lightly, if a card is to represent you or your endeavors, it will probably take some thought and then the work to create it. So logos, layouts, fonts, revisions, printing, etc...

Websites. Which take on all forms these days. There again, no matter how simple, from full blown corporate flash sites to MySpace and FaceBook, they still take time and effort to accomplish something.

Computers. Buying, installing, maintaining, repairing. Hard to imagine a modern day epic, even the 60 second sleeping cat videos on YouTube, not utilizing the power of the modern desktop computer. Of course that means being educated on the latest hardware and software even if you don't have the opportunity to use it.

Music. Even if you are lucky enough to have someone say they have the time and talent to create it, it is still a major process. And don't hang out forever waiting on that first note. Or, even if you are near tone deaf and musically illiterate, you can attempt your own with the incredibly powerful software that exists to make you think you know what you are doing. Of course that means "computers" and "software" and... see above...

Want some "cool" titles for your masterpiece? Of course at this level that means interesting, effective, polished - just because I don't have a team of experts or a designer with Saul Bass-Kyle Cooper-like skills doesn't mean I don't want to compete. It means I absolutely do want to compete. And that takes work.

Work is my antidote and/or replacement for talent and resources. I'm not pretending to be humble enough to not think I have neither, I am a "film director" after all, but I try to hedge my bets by working harder.

Which is how I taught myself Photoshop. Not on the level of a Deke McClelland or Scott Kelby, but not too bad. I am sure you could spend an entire 4 year college curriculum just on Photoshop and if that's what you are into, it would be time well spent. So if those guys are the ones teaching the grad classes, maybe I'm up to starting on my masters.

Photoshop? "I just want to make a movie! What the hell is this nut talking about?" Well... you do want those business cards, websites, etc... don't you? You want to post some stills of your work. You want stills cropped and resized and placed in your MySpace pages. You want posters and DVD covers. And yes, there are other programs, both complex and simple, good and bad, but they still come down to - yep.. you guessed it. Computers. Hardware. Software. And all the rest...

Can you make a movie without Photoshop? Of course. I think. But it will definitely help your understanding of After Effects. Or Motion. Or Color. Or Flame, Inferno, Da Vinci, Nuke... And of course without the big, big toys, that means you'll have to work even harder to compete.

Wow... it's actually time to get back to work. That other work. Planning the next shooting days. Editing the material we have. Updating the websites. Expanding our presence on MySpace. Putting together another part of the film score. Fumbling my way to a kick ass trailer that shows off the other people working their asses off on this flick. Writing the next script.

I don't about 'me' being cool... but being a 'filmmaker' these days is really cool!

Kely McClung

http://www,kerberosbites.com/
http://www.bloodtiesmovie.com/
http://maifilmcorp.com/




"Talking people and doing people, for myself, I hope to do" Kely McClung

Filmmaking and Storytelling still comes down to Content

Searching for one of my seemingly one million different log ins and passwords, I ran across this bit of notes... not sure if I already posted it somewhere, but the inspiration of that day still holds and has been on my mind of late... "it comes down to content!" (my moments of inspired thought are rare, so bear with me...)

Reading and studying and trying to absord the massive amount of info available on each and every camera and each and every situation, it's easy to forget about content.

After content, it's easy to forget about the basics; that the camera only sees a part of what we point it at. It's value and values are still made up of light and shadow, expressed through composition and angle, rendered with focus or the lack of with digitally interpolated color and luminance.

After acquisition, it's easy to forget about the value and effort of editing and post. We get lost in the semantics of PC vs. Mac, Intel vs. AMD, and then the myriad debates on editing and finishing systems with more effort than in the understanding of the cut; the when and why's, the intricities of montage and rythm, of the emotional impact of our choices for juztoposition, continuity edits, jumps cuts, fades and dissolves.

Whether weddings or birthdays, corporate and industrial, music video and training tapes, shorts or feature films... it still comes down to content.

Kely McClung - back to filmmaking...

How to make a film

I was recently asked to speak at a film festival that I was lucky enough to win last year. Not only speak once - but twice - with a couple main themes. One, "How to make an action film" and two, "Why we make films". I don't know if anyone will show up to hear me talk, but it of course has made me examine my own motivations and methods.

Of all the tools available for making modern day epics, the new cameras, new lens choices, the proliferation and accessibility of high quality, DIY camera rigs and supports, and the new software/hardware combinations with the newest, latest, greatest plug-ins and newest, latest, greatest delivery formats; my favorites remain the three that started it all.

One: The desire to tell a story. Of course, that doesn't really sum up the absolute need to tell the story. The constant obsessive compulsion to dedicate and sacrifice whatever part of one's life one must in order to tell that story. Probably started somewhere before Cro-Magnon man and the advent of the RED camera. Certainly, the still amazing cave paintings of Lascaux were done before the consolidation of Intel chips on competing platforms happened. Still earlier masterpieces but less famous paintings are dated as old as 30,000 years ago.

That sacrifice will be different for each person and each set of circumstances and abilities, but the fundamental need to not just talk about doing something but actually doing it at whatever cost gets it done remains the same.

Two: The story itself. The blueprint, the themes, the foreseen actions committed and worked out on paper that deliver the message, the passages of dialog or the lack there of that inform and entertain. The plan devised with rhythm and pace and escalation, climax and denouement.

Being tied in through friends to at least the local film community, I constantly hear of the next newest, latest, greatest project being done somewhere. Even more common after being told it is being shot on the newest, latest, greatest camera by someone who may or may not have actually ever used that camera (hey, we all start somewhere), I am more often that not left with the informer informing that everything is looking really good... except that, well, maybe the script isn't so hot. It could use a little work. The story seems weak, and the dialog doesn't seem to be working.

Eeeeshhh... can't wait to see that in all its really high resolution pristine glory!

Three. The actors. And actresses. Those people and faces and voices that bring the previously conceived ideas to life. They can be trained or untrained. Young or old. Handsome or pretty or stunning or frankly a little hard to look at. They might be famous already or obscurely working away in a Bangkok bar, but the bottom line is that they are either good or they are not good.

In my quest and circumstance as auteur I wear many hats. I know that I become obsessive before, during, and after my projects. Performing so many roles with at this time still limited resources means that my projects take longer than many other peoples, which means they tax and strain my mental state, tax and strain my physical being, and tax and strain my relationships.

The discipline to work hard was probably instilled from an obsessive father who thought that Olympic type workouts were the norm for all grade school kids. I can look back on training schedules even before high school that compete with any modern day Olympian. And they worked! I was fast. World class fast! Until a short drive my first time behind the wheel (20 feet) took me off a bridge, 20 feet down, and under another 20 feet of water where I eventually emerged with two sliced knees. (guess I really made it 60 feet!)

That same work ethic let me train obsessively in martial art. I had the will to travel and learn and train around the world with some of the greatest teachers and practitioners who have lived. I was a poor student of each separate art but obsessed with the art as a whole. Most my teachers probably wouldn't claim me today, but I pay respects to each as they colored the art I displayed as I fought and later taught my own distillations and concepts in my own schools here and overseas, and to law enforcement and military. Those basic concepts can also be found in my movie fights and choreography.

And now of course I am a filmmaker. Pretty much unknown except by a very small, growing circle of colleagues and fans. Pretty much working away obsessively as I always have. And making progress. World Class progress? That remains to be seen...

Meanwhile, the fuel that keeps me going, that makes me want to get up at 5 in the morning to edit - is the realization of the three components above.

To see the long obsessed with concepts and ideas come to life, leaping or crawling their way from pages written over brief bursts of inspiration and fingers blurring on abused and coffee sodden keyboards, with the gift of performances I've been freely given or coaxed or demanded or been able to trick my actors into, from those actors and actresses who trained or untrained, handsome or a bit hard to look at - none of us famous at this time - some of them going from good to great - is why I make films.

I can not speak for other filmmakers. But as a viewer, watching everything from old cracked super8 to IMAX and flash delivered YouTube, I know I appreciate a film when I can see the primary attention given to those three: the desire and dedication to get it done, the story, and the acting.

Kely's first film BLOOD TIES won several film festivals including the Action Film of the Year at the Action on Film Int's Film Festival, Best of Festival and Best Visual FX at Indie Fest USA, Best Director at Big Bang Film Festival, and Best Int'l Film at the Rincon Puerto Rico Int'l Film Festival. He is scheduled to speak at the Indie Fest USA in downtown Disney on August 12th and 13th.

He is currently editing and obessing about his newest film KERBEROS.