Quicksand Doc: The Pursuit of Stardom from Brandon McCaskill on Vimeo.
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Monday, April 5, 2010
Blog #10
Just got my official URL for the Quicksand Website. It is http://www.QuicksandDoc.com/
I will be creating the one page site hopefully by this weekend. I'll put up the trailer for now, and at the top or bottom, I will have an about the producer section where I will talk about where the theme and idea for Quicksand came from. I will keep the graphic theme consistent and I'm not sure of which theme song i will choose just yet. Music producer Pierce Scott created most of the original beats on my doc, minus the 2-3 songs I used for thematic purposes.
Also, I have officially completed about 7 minutes of my Doc. I can already see I might have to cut down to 15 when I've gone through the whole story. I'm not looking forward to it, because everyones story is so compelling and already short enough. I am about 90% sure that after this class I will make this a 27 minute piece, and I may even keep a series going for Quicksand stories within the industry. People seem to be interested.
It is amazing what time can do. This started as a little idea and now it's the tangible product it is today. God is good! Until next time,
I will be creating the one page site hopefully by this weekend. I'll put up the trailer for now, and at the top or bottom, I will have an about the producer section where I will talk about where the theme and idea for Quicksand came from. I will keep the graphic theme consistent and I'm not sure of which theme song i will choose just yet. Music producer Pierce Scott created most of the original beats on my doc, minus the 2-3 songs I used for thematic purposes.
Also, I have officially completed about 7 minutes of my Doc. I can already see I might have to cut down to 15 when I've gone through the whole story. I'm not looking forward to it, because everyones story is so compelling and already short enough. I am about 90% sure that after this class I will make this a 27 minute piece, and I may even keep a series going for Quicksand stories within the industry. People seem to be interested.
It is amazing what time can do. This started as a little idea and now it's the tangible product it is today. God is good! Until next time,
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Blog #9
The online anticipation for Quicksand has been growing tremendously. So many people have reached out to me saying they believe this project might grow into something bigger than I intended.
The great thing about these comments is they are all from actual industry people or people who are actively in pursuit of it. Something that really touched me was one of the guys that was turned down while I was filming at Red Model Management, in New York City, reached out to me saying how my project changed his life. (See below)
The great thing about these comments is they are all from actual industry people or people who are actively in pursuit of it. Something that really touched me was one of the guys that was turned down while I was filming at Red Model Management, in New York City, reached out to me saying how my project changed his life. (See below)
this video and that day helped me alot
im glad i did it it showed me what i was lacking
11:41am
Brandon
howso?
11:42am
and now im fully equiped and ready to go back to red to
because it helped me that day to get a good critic on what my faults were to them and gave me an idea of what they were looking
for
Viewers will get to see the scene when he wasn't accepted into the agency and his response on camera right after.
As far as post production goes, I have been working on consistent visuals for the overall project. I want everything to be uniformed as if everything came from a package. I chose a professional photo of me filming in Hollywood for official Quicksand promotion usage. I will use this on the documentary website for the About Me section.
I have also created my lower thirds for my CG's this week. I love them! I have about 5 out of 15 minutes of my doc edited. I'm excited about going back and inserting the CG's, because I think they will add a very nice finishing touch to the overall project.
Below are the instructions for my CG fonts in case I need to check them for any reason.
Viewers will get to see the scene when he wasn't accepted into the agency and his response on camera right after.
As far as post production goes, I have been working on consistent visuals for the overall project. I want everything to be uniformed as if everything came from a package. I chose a professional photo of me filming in Hollywood for official Quicksand promotion usage. I will use this on the documentary website for the About Me section.I have also created my lower thirds for my CG's this week. I love them! I have about 5 out of 15 minutes of my doc edited. I'm excited about going back and inserting the CG's, because I think they will add a very nice finishing touch to the overall project.
Below are the instructions for my CG fonts in case I need to check them for any reason.
CG's will be up for 5 seconds.
NAME: Gill Sands BOLD, 36, white font and cross dissolve into name from black
TITLE LINE: Gill Sands regular, 36, white font and cross zoom into title line. Add a Wipe on the end of both lines.
That's about it for now. Until next time.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Blog #8
The clock is rolling and time is flying. My trailer is now posted online, my script and log sheet is done, I've gotten a great response from online viewers and I'm ready to produce a phenomenal finished product. Hearing people's responses has been energizing. It confirms that this project will serve a greater purpose.
I got my favorite writing professor, Prof. Yanela Gordon, to go over my script with me. At first I was going to tell the story from first person. I thought it would make a more persona/conversational documentary, but after talking with Prof. Gordon, I am going to take the good old journalistic approach and be objective. I am going to let strong writing and strong characters sell the story.
I got my favorite writing professor, Prof. Yanela Gordon, to go over my script with me. At first I was going to tell the story from first person. I thought it would make a more persona/conversational documentary, but after talking with Prof. Gordon, I am going to take the good old journalistic approach and be objective. I am going to let strong writing and strong characters sell the story.
Prof. Jones has been telling us all year about self distribution and how it is becoming a necessity for documentary film making. I decided to put my graphic and visual skills to use by creating a movie cover for Quicksand. (See below.) I started with the name quicksand at the top. A consistent theme I use in the doc is the quick montage of NY/LA city life, so I used the title font and a snapshot from the montage behind it. Then I put the tag line, "The Pursuit of Stardom," beneath it just like the title page in the actual doc. I used a gradient fading into a night time photo of a large city with night lights illuminated. I wanted to do this because I thought it represented looking at city life from the surface with no idea what is going on in the actual buildings. It's a mystery effect just like the name Quicksand. Below the city are thumbnails of all the main characters, as if they are layered grains of sand below the city.
Everything is looking good for Quicksand. I'm excited, until next time.
mnnn
QUICKSAND DOC TRAILER 2010 from Brandon McCaskill on Vimeo.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Blog Entry #7
Things could not have lined up any better than they have. This was the absolute perfect timing to do this documentary. Last week I corresponded on the red carpet at the 82nd Annual Academy awards and it was an amazing experience. Not only did I get to be there, but I got great footage as well. Before going to the Oscars there was something missing from my doc.
I will be using the footage to start my doc off to give off a fantasy land impression. Everyones favorite stars will be stepping out in their beautiful gowns and then I will add a transition into reality somehow with music, great visuals and nat sound.
I am currently working on my trailer. I've been debating whether or not I wanted to do any voice-overs or if I wanted to let the story tell itself. I am leaning more towards using only the sound bites because I think t will add more mystery to the teaser. Just looking through the footage looking for sound bites is getting me excited because I have some great characters with amazing stories. I am really proud to know that I was able to get them, but now I must transform it all into one compelling story. It is very possible and it is going to happen.
Surprisingly, the most intricate part of this process thus far has has been the video log. It took so much time to complete. I do see the purpose for it though. I have so many tapes and looking for any particular clip will be much more convenient.
Until next time...
Monday, March 1, 2010
Blog Entry #6
What a great way to start a doc! Friday, I finally had a chance to sit down with Prof. Jones to go over my documentary outline and fine tune all of the ideas and the direction for the documentary. After reviewing the interviews I've already done and the ones scheduled for the near future, Prof. Jones helped me with a flow of execution that will really sell my documentary. I have interviewed so many people and gathered so much information that my story can go almost anywhere. That can be a problem because if I don't pick a focus and stick to it, I can easily lose my audience.
Two interviews I still need to do for my documentary is Ebony Morgan, which is scheduled for this week and Monique "Tanza" Thompson, which the date has not yet been decided. At first I was on the fence about having a musical artist, but after speaking with Prof. Jones, it is very necessary.
I have also been in touch with Joey, the actor in my documentary. From the sound of the conversation, castings haven't been going too good for him, but he's been working hard as a fitness instructor as his daytime job, and he is still persistent with his acting dream. Since I am coming to L.A this week for the Oscars, I would like the cameras to follow up with him, his progress and what life has been like three months after his last interview. This would be a great transition somewhere in the documentary, or even as a graphic "3 months later," which will show viewers the reality of dreams happening overnight. They might happen, but for the most part that;s a fairy tale.
I am also working on my stand up to wrap up the documentary. Prof. Jones said because I am a single producer, It would be perfectly okay to interject in the last act with some information to wrap up the story while making it relevant with a standup on the actual Oscars red carpet.
I will be getting b-roll for the documentary there as well. I have yet to create the doc logo, but I have decided what free host site I will use for the one-page layout for the doc. Doteasy has a pretty simple host/domain site, so I think I will go with them. I used them for my old website, they weren't too bad.
One thing I have been able to do was create a logo, business card, letter head and envelope in my typography class for the production company I'm going to go by. It's going to be McCaskill Productions. When my doc shows at Doc. Night, I will have business cards to distribute for people that want to keep in touch or even those interested in distribution. I will add the website on there. I haven't created it yet, but I am thinking http://quicksanddocumentary.com
Two interviews I still need to do for my documentary is Ebony Morgan, which is scheduled for this week and Monique "Tanza" Thompson, which the date has not yet been decided. At first I was on the fence about having a musical artist, but after speaking with Prof. Jones, it is very necessary.
I have also been in touch with Joey, the actor in my documentary. From the sound of the conversation, castings haven't been going too good for him, but he's been working hard as a fitness instructor as his daytime job, and he is still persistent with his acting dream. Since I am coming to L.A this week for the Oscars, I would like the cameras to follow up with him, his progress and what life has been like three months after his last interview. This would be a great transition somewhere in the documentary, or even as a graphic "3 months later," which will show viewers the reality of dreams happening overnight. They might happen, but for the most part that;s a fairy tale.
I am also working on my stand up to wrap up the documentary. Prof. Jones said because I am a single producer, It would be perfectly okay to interject in the last act with some information to wrap up the story while making it relevant with a standup on the actual Oscars red carpet.
I will be getting b-roll for the documentary there as well. I have yet to create the doc logo, but I have decided what free host site I will use for the one-page layout for the doc. Doteasy has a pretty simple host/domain site, so I think I will go with them. I used them for my old website, they weren't too bad.
One thing I have been able to do was create a logo, business card, letter head and envelope in my typography class for the production company I'm going to go by. It's going to be McCaskill Productions. When my doc shows at Doc. Night, I will have business cards to distribute for people that want to keep in touch or even those interested in distribution. I will add the website on there. I haven't created it yet, but I am thinking http://quicksanddocumentary.com
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
BLOG ENTRY #5
This is the big week. We get cameras tomorrow. Thankfully, I have kept in touch with my interviewees. The Americas Next Top Model finalist, Ebony Morgan, agreed to be apart of Quick$and. We talked this past weekend and she will be asking her professor this week if it is okay if I capture b-roll of her in class. I want to show her in her current setting, which is simply being a student after all of the glitz and glamor. I am still debating on how I want to shoot her actual interview. I want to show the normal person side of her, but I also want her to be semi-glamorous because it compliments my story to have actual celebrities from the industry. I haven't been able to think of a fitting background or location for her interview, but today I got the idea of using the green screen with a graphic like they do on reality shows. I can either pic a simple background or I can put an Americas Next Top Model background. I don't want to do anything that would distract viewers away from the speaker though.
I have also been brainstorming on ideas for possible stand-ups when I go to Hollywood for the Oscars in two weeks. It is going to be so perfect to have actual b-roll of stars. It would be even greater to use quick sots from a few of them for an intro and/or the teaser.
I plan on getting Final Cur Pro6 on my macbook so that I can edit at home. I am excited because I already have a lot of tapes to log and capture. My goal is to have my tapes logged and captured by this weekend so I can start creating script drafts to get a feel for how I want to convey my message. After doing our self-study paper, I realize how important all the elements are to the finished product. This is going to be a great final product.
Until next time.
I have also been brainstorming on ideas for possible stand-ups when I go to Hollywood for the Oscars in two weeks. It is going to be so perfect to have actual b-roll of stars. It would be even greater to use quick sots from a few of them for an intro and/or the teaser.
I plan on getting Final Cur Pro6 on my macbook so that I can edit at home. I am excited because I already have a lot of tapes to log and capture. My goal is to have my tapes logged and captured by this weekend so I can start creating script drafts to get a feel for how I want to convey my message. After doing our self-study paper, I realize how important all the elements are to the finished product. This is going to be a great final product.
Until next time.
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