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.

Only a Million Steps to make the Movie KERBEROS!

Or maybe it's a million more!

Wish I could say all the filming was done, which is not say say I don't enjoy that specific process, but that I wish there was some completion or finality to some of the million steps. But it can not be a bad thing to look at footage that we have shot and not only take some energy from the pride of the accomplishment to date, but to analyze it and then be in a position to make our film better as we go. Similar feelings to when we did BLOOD TIES, the knowing that what we have pulled off is pretty amazing, but seeing and knowing that, moving forward with the conviction that this is the time to raise the level on all accounts, including the filming itself.

Even with the half dozen scenes I have already cut, I of course have found shots to redo or pickups to add. What is great about the Kerberos cast and crew is that they too sense something special is happening and have been game to do it better. Already, the simple pick ups with Courtney and Mark have helped raise the bar, and the camera work, under my experimental but now more focused eye, and Attila's rapidly assimilating skills are pushing our overall level upwards.

Okay, a million steps? Maybe an exaggeration but let's take a quick look at just one scene. I have made my first cut of " the mechanics shop", where bank robbing ex-convict Finn (Kely McClung) stops in the middle of the night to the small two car bay garage he owns, talks with Burns (Chris Burns), checks the mail, pounds the heavy bag, finds out one of his snitches is dead, and defends the honor of the girl he's enamored with even while confessing said 'enamorance' as he shares a bottle of 'Jack' with his friend.

Already filmed, locations found and paid for, make up and wardrobe chosen and used, fake tattoos drawn on, lighting scheme worked out, props arranged, punching bag found, aged and brought in, sound recorded, footage captured, backed up multiple times, and studied. First cut assembled with frame grabs pulled out to apply treatments and grades to see what the scene might look like when completed. Sound is found wanting, so making plans for the ADR sessions, and the massive amount of Foley (I like full, rich, complex ambiances, even when unobtrusive or subtle - and can clanging at a mechanics shop while pounding a hundred pound heavy bag be subtle?).

So, already sending compressed versions of this first cut to potential composers who begin their own series of steps while I audition various songs for both style and ability to compliment and tell their alternate subliminal versions of the scene.

Now making plans for the the shots which will enhance and/or replace the footage that is not up to standard. The good news is the blocking, the actual script dialog, and the acting are working as they should. The light works great, and the camera, Sony's PMW EX1 is well up to it, especially now that my experiments and discussions with Attila are taking root.

So we have to now re-light, reset the vehicles, which we have finally tracked down - again, re-dress the scene and ourselves, make arrangements for payment, picture cars, sound acquisition, and then reschedule the actors (I never know my schedule but I am always available for shooting and directing our film!), get the tattoos redone by the great Guzik at the East Atlanta Tattoo Shop, drag every one out there -tough for a night shoot but fortunately it's a really small crew.

And then film again. Gather specific location sound and Foley. Attempt ADR 'wild'. Payoff every one, reset and capture the footage. Back it up multiple times. Import it into the editing program (still staying loyal to Adobe even though I am straddling the platform divide with one leg for PC and one leg firmly on a Mac).

Then I get to edit, work the minimum 100 steps to doing the sound right, export the finished picture, reopen in my finishing programs, process the footage (at least 20 more steps), re-import, render, and then pat myself and everyone else on the back long enough to make plans for the next 3 minute scene.

All this for a 'no budget film' on a scene we have already done... eeeshhhhh...

Only 990 thousand steps to go!

Kely McClung
Producer/Director/Writer/Actor/blah blah blah... oh yeah, and "coolest filmmaker on the planet"

Cameras roll on KERBEROS in 16 days!

Do I feel the pressure? Oh yeah. Especially when with all we have in place, we are probably missing half. Still looking for key cast members, major locations, specialized extras, stunt men, special fx, catering, vehicles, and time to make sense of it all.

And on top of that, so as to not abandon my first film as I am making my second, I am going with Amazing to Puerto Rico 4 days for the Rincon Int'l Film Festival to represent BLOOD TIES.

I'll leave the good fight for a few days in the hands of Attila and Future, and hopefully have the chance to watch KERBEROS a few times in my head while laying on a tropical beach with my girl trying to make up for the time I've ignored her putting this together. Yet even there, I know I'll be asking for her deep insights and creative input to help guide, interpret and verbalize my own thoughts. Her last post, The Women of KERBEROS, put on the page ideas that coincided with my own about the role of the female characters better than I ever could.

Having finally been forced by time and circumstance to make and implement some tough decisions in our casting, I am partially dismayed at my long term hesitation, partially content that I made every effort possible to really weigh the effects and consequence of those decisions. And like the story of Dark and Light itself, I am both saddened by the opportunity missed and excited by the possibilities newly created.

Watching the movie in my mind, I know I have made the right decision, and am thrilled by the contribution I know is coming from another fine actor who again is putting his faith in my story, faith in me as a filmmaker, faith in me as his director. Welcome aboard Stan Harrington.

I think of KERBEROS as being the biggest project that I have taken on, but in these moments of reflection, I am not really sure if that's true.

Is it really bigger than STICKFIGHTER? The first of the 4 picture deal I had with Menahem Golan? I only wrote, helped cast, choreographed and starred in that one. ' Was able to bring in a few friends to work on it, both Rob Pralgo and Scott Sullivan, as well as martial arts acquaintances, and I had their support and the responsibility to make sure they were treated fairly as they fought for our cause.

Is it bigger than the films I produced for Pan Am Pictures? Acting as casting director, line producer, first AD, and post production supervisor on movies hovering at the million dollar mark? They had dozens, or even hundreds of people working on them too.

And can it be bigger than BLOOD TIES? The responsibility of convincing two friends, (Robert again, and Troy Barusso) to jump on a plane and travel to the other side of the world, spending their time and money to make my directorial debut?

Somehow, I think it is. This time it's a bigger picture, with more apparent resources, more people involved, and a bigger potential.

Looking at the first 30 faces on the cast board staring back at me with their generally wide eyed, smiling faces, (there are a few narrow eyed scowls) I am overwhelmed with gratitude for the opportunity to direct their collective talents into my vision of pain and heroics as they navigate the grey underworld of KERBEROS.

I feel the responsibility that comes with their wide eyed, smiling trust. The responsibility of being the leader marching my men and women into the unknown. The responsibility of making sure we all come out the other side better than when we went in.

Being the Director is supposed to be fun... but I'm still waiting on that part.


Kely McClung


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

Try hard to not be what you hate

As a martial artist, I pushed myself to be the best I could in as many aspects of the various arts I could find and think of and have the opportunity to work with. As a martial arts teacher I strove to teach, push, pull, and challenge. I went through a moment by moment reflection on my actions, and was constantly striving to become a better communicator, a better facilitator of the knowledge I could pass on and help each student discover in themselves.

Now that I am directing the films that I am writing, I am similarly reminded to really strive to make the kind of movies I want to watch, write the kind of scenes I would want to do myself, work with the actors the way I would want to be worked with.

Learning from other teachers, and working under other directors; there are those I respected, those I was able to learn and grow from, and those I was really able to use as an example of what I would hope to never do or never become.

That 'do unto others' thing is a pretty damn good rule...


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

Kely McClung

http://www.bloodtiesmovie.com/

http://www.kerberosbites.com/