Interview from Film maker of a web series

Dear friends recently i got the chanse to take interview of "Colin" the filmmaker of the new web series. read and enjoy!

1) Hi Colin first of all tell us something about yourself and your professional experience?

My wife and I have been producing independent films for about seven years now. It all started as a way to develop my skills as an actor and improve my comfort level in front of the camera, but it quickly turned into more. Together she and I have created a couple of shorts and feature length films. At current we are finishing this season of 'Gavin Lance', but we are also co-producing a short film written by Matt Phillion.

2) When did you start taking interest in filmmaking?

I guess it started while I attended a Waldorf school. That's where my passion for acting surfaced and from there it didn't take long before I wanted to do films. I like the way you can bring out certain emotions using camera angles, tight shots or wider shots and, of course, music plays a huge roll in how emotions are brought out. Those are the different things that drew me to film making, it's things that you can't get from any other source.

3) How the idea of this story came in your mind and why you planned to show your creative art in form of web series?

I have always been a comic book fan, I grew up reading Batman, X-Men, Green Arrow, Deadpool, ect... and I guess I've always wanted to write a character like that, but the opportunity was never there. Once I sat down and began to write the script I realized it needed some kind of unique edge to it. That's where the idea of a "live action" comic book came from. The idea was to bring the pages of a comic book to life for the viewer. And the story grew and took shape from that point on.

Web series are basically the next "big" thing in the entertainment world. They're being taken more seriously by both the general public and major film studios. Also with the world's economy in such bad shape a lot of people are turning to the internet for entertainment rather than paying for a movie or television. A big part of the decision to do a web series was also for exposure; as an actor trying to be seen by an agent or studio, having your material on the internet is priceless. And not just for myself, everyone in the series are great actors/actresses and I hope everyone gets seen by the "right" people.

4) How was the cast and crew selected?

Mostly through casting calls that we had. We also found some of them through friends on the project as well. We are very thankful and very lucky to have found the cast and crew that we have. They are all extremely talented and very hard working. We hope that in addition to audiences enjoying the series that they will also take some time out to learn more about each of them on the website.

5) While filming the web series what were the major hurdles you faced?

We filmed the web series with the same amount of effort and resources as we would have for a feature length film, so we faced many of the same hurdles as you would filming a regular movie; scheduling, finding locations, budgeting, ect. We filmed during Winter so a larger problem that we faced was the cold. You have to be very careful with your equipment and actors in extreme cold. The last thing you want to do in the middle of production is freeze your only camera. The only thing that might be unique to this project is that due to the multiple "panels" aspect (3 to 4 images on the screen at once) meant we needed the same shot from many different angles, so it would take more time and more film to shoot.

6) Tell us more about this web series?

There will be seven episodes in all, each having a cast/crew commentary track that is released the following Monday, along with special features. We were extremely eco-conscience and strived to have a low/no impact on our environment. During the production we used energy efficient light bulbs, rechargeable batteries, and used recycled/reused/salvaged paper. Instead of plastic water battles we used cups or reusable containers. Locations were reached either by foot or carpooling whenever possible. And, of course, recycling all material possible. In addition to thinking green, contributions have been made to the National Arbor Day Foundation to help rebuild our forests and further reduce our carbon signature.

In the end we hope that it is enjoyed enough to make a second season in the near future.

7) What are the elements which make you feel that your web series is different from the other web series on net?

The biggest difference is the comic book style, you don't see that a whole lot on the internet. I also think that the acting really stands out for a web series. All of our actors gave way more than 100% and it shows. I'm very proud of that. I also think that given it's length (10 to 15 minutes) it seems like people are receiving it more like a TV show that they would watch each week rather than a quick web-video.

Also we attempted to make the website it is hosted on very interactive: there are character pages that are unlocked after each new episode; commentary and behind scenes videos are released every other week; audiences are able to download their favorite characters posters and can send fan mail via email to anyone of the members they really enjoy watching. We wanted to make this fun for the audience.

8) Web series is still a very different and unique tool. How you plan to grab the audience on your site when there are 10000s of sites getting registered every day?

Many marketing researchers will tell you that, even with all of todays technology, word of mouth and "brand" marketing is still the most powerful way to reach people. And I absolutely believe that. If you make a good enough product, the audience WILL find you through friends, family, blogs (like your site) ect. That being said we also have a 'grass-roots' campaign going on right now where we are going into comic book stores and book stores and passing out posters and spreading the word about Gavin. Gaining loyal fans and keeping in touch with them is what keeps a series going, and that's our key focus right now.

9) Before deciding that you will go with web series what research you did on web series and their market?

We watched several web series and carefully decided what we did or did not like about what they did. We also found the days where people where on the internet the most (Mondays) and looked into what we wanted our key demographic to be and what sites they visited the most (i.e. facebook, twitter, myspace... ect)

10) On what camera you have shoot?

We used a Canon XL2

11) What was the estimated budget? (you can tell me the original budget too if you don’t have any problem)

This production was made on a mirco-budget (under 5K). The main source of this budget went into the purchase of a Mac Computer and software. We owned much of the equipment used during the shooting that we have acquired over the years from previous projects (i.e. camera, lights, mics, etc). The rest of the budget went into extra equipment we needed specifically for this project and items needed on all projects (film, food, gas, etc).

12) How many episodes you plan for this web series?

There are 7 episodes filmed so far. Originally I had set up the first season to have 12, but we decided to condense the first season to these first 7 episodes. Hopefully there will be many many more to come!

Thank you very much.

+Colin Carlton

Executive Producer / Creator /

"Gavin Lance"

www.gavinlance.com

Publish Post

Film Issues !

Hi just had completed the article for a friend so thought to post it here.

Other than the film issues there is one very important question that that does film making requires proper education? Till few months back I used to think no. Just assisting a director for few years is enough. No doubt by spending time with an experienced filmmaker we will learn to handle the equipments but the art of writing a script, creating tensions, engaging audience, examining the quality of story all this requires proper film education. Today filmmaking is not only an art but it is a science which need proper education to get polished and only then one can be skilled in it. I remember one of my teachers said that if I want to be a filmmaker I should never enjoy a movie, in fact I should see it critically and analyze that what are the reasons for it’s success of failure. The critical analysis though will not help us in making any set rules of success, but surely will guide us to lot of things.

The story lines of Lolly-wood films need to improve their story lines. Pakistan is truly a rich country in terms of literature and there isn’t lack of good story lines, but the only issues is that people who invest money in film industry these days are making films for the class which has no quality aesthetic sense. Writers like haseena Moin, Asghar Nadeem Syed, Anwar Maqsoon have the potential to write high quality scripts but again the the soule of a film is money which is now a days in the hands of wrong people.

Another issue which has always been considered a big big issues is technical assistance. From the last 5 years I have been seeing filmmakers crying on the issue that INDIA has the good technical resources and we don’t have it. The only thing I can do is beat my head to the door. I have only one simple example to prove that a film never needs a high quality camera first. The first and the most important element is the story. The example is of the superb British comedy film “Clerk” which was shot on 16mm and originally had a poor picture quality but still it is ranked the best 50^th comedy film of all time British Comedy films.

Even if we talk abut our films, we see big names like TERE PYAAR MAIN which was a huge hit. Then films like “CHURIAAN” and “MAJAJAN” made history. All of them had poor picture quality and were lacking in high quality technicalities but still they pulled the crowed.

So I personally believe that the film makers instead of crying on technical issues, should focus on good stories.

Is film necessary for us?

Hi friends. Just wrote some stuff for a friend so thought to add this on blog.

A film technically is called a collection of moving images. But in depth I believe it has several meaning. It can be called the best source of entertainment, highest form of art or a medium for educating a nation. Being an ordinary person I prefer to say “film is a best source of educating with entertainment”.

Because of being a citizen of a country like Pakistan I always had questions like other confused people that films should be a part of our life or not, more over is film necessary? And few days later I came to know the answer of my question. While discussing to a legend writer of my country he told me few simple things. According to him

”Film is a an important part of educating a nation if used in a correct way. Generally people don’t like to listen the big lectures but they will always follow the habits of their Star icons. Now it is up to the film makers that they create positive and constructive roles for the Star icons or they use them to spoil the public ”

While giving answer of my second question he said

“Nature has fixed aesthetic sense in every human being and the hunger of that aesthetic sense needs to be feed and there fore films play an important part because films have the most elements of other artistic forms example music, acting, poetry etc ”.

when I asked him that if films are so necessary then why Lolly-wood is suffering and why film makers are still continuing to make films which are no where to art standards. He smiled and replied

“The way you need to develop your taste for coffee, the same way you need to develop your aesthetic taste. And unfortunately our film makers haven’t developed the taste of our people.”