www.QuicksandDoc.com

Quicksand Doc: The Pursuit of Stardom from Brandon McCaskill on Vimeo.

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,

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)

Milanius

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

Milanius

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.

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.

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.

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.

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...

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

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.

Blog Entry #4

Since the last blog post, I have been contacted by MTVU to inform me that I am one of three finalist that will be going to L.A to correspond on the red carpet at the 82nd Academy Awards. I am  excited because this means B-ROLL! What better visuals than original video of the stars themselves, as they live the lives highlighted in this documentary. As of now, I will like to do a standup on the red carpet catered to Quick$and's theme and incorporate it with the project.

Besides that, I've been keeping in touch with my interviewees and building a rapport. Everything is coming together. Especially after this Friday when Prof. Jones had us turn in outlines for how we would like to see our documentaries flow. Though it felt like, "ahh man another homework assignment," it really helped. Before the outline, everything was just a bunch of jumbled ideas. Now I have organization and a direction to go into instead of running in place with tons of information.

I do not want to wait until the last minute to do anything for this documentary. In order to stay ahead of the game, I am going to set a goal for myself to start logging my interview tapes this upcoming weekend; I have yet to do so. I want to also document at least three songs I know I will like to use. I know I want a lot of instrumentals and fast paced fashion show type music, but I also want a couple of poplar songs that reference Hollywood or, "the good life," to tie everything into the story line.

I took a look at the syllabus and my calendar, only to see that final scripts and teasers are due in about six weeks. I am excited and ready to pick up the pace and start transforming my vision into reality; a tangible dvd that people can see with their own eyes.

Until next time.

Blog Entry #3

The ball is rolling. Last week in class we reviewed different documentaries and critiqued them; well Jones critiqued them and I took notes:-)

Outside of the fun aspect of doing a documentary, Prof. Jones taught us about the business side of producing documentaries. It is very expensive and I know this because we had to create our own itemized budget of our documentary's production cost. Thank God I am a student because with our resources we only pay a fraction of the real cost.

Aside from drafting up my budgets, my two interviewees, from reality shows, Paul and Ebony are still lined up. I'm just waiting on cameras to do the actual interview.

Though I still have some shooting to do, I am planning on going ahead and logging and capturing the footage I already got over the winter break. It has just been sitting in my room all semester, but I had to take the time to learn the craft of documentaries before I started anything. I didn't want to end up having to work backwards because I missed a step or lesson. I am however so grateful that I got an early start on  producing this documentary. I am a one-man-band for Quick$and and there is so much more to do for this class than just create the finished product.

This past week I have been exploring options for possible logos. I want to go ahead and start sketching out the website we have to make for our documentaries. What I need to do is go ahead and reserve the url. I haven't done research on whether or not a free host site will suffice because video takes up a lot of memory and space and cheap host sites might not agree with the my vision.

I also need to start playing around on live type to get the Quick$and CG's I want.

I haven't done any shooting since Atlanta, but I plan to take another trip at some point because I didn't get to spend the amount of time shooting b-roll that I wanted. It was very cold and I was sharing time with Mr. FAMU duties and appearances.

One thing I have been thinking about is how I could incorporate this contest i am in with my documentary. I am competing with another journalism student to correspond at the Oscars this year. This takes place right before spring break and the finished product of our docs are right after spring break. It would be so great to get actual b-roll of real stars on the red carpet. That's what I'm shooting for as of now. Even if I don't get it in time for doc. night, I will probably still add it to the project. My story continues to grow and my industry friends are really supportive and encouraging me to send it to HBO.

We'll see what God has in store. Until next time :-)

Blog Entry #2

All of the preparation and pre-planing has now become actual execution. Since I got the confirmation that Quick$and was going to be my documentary, I have been looking for possible interviewees outside of the ones I have already interviewed.

This past weekend, I went to Atlanta with the school as Mr. FAMU to a recruitment fair. What better opportunity to multitask and get out of Tallahassee. The look for my documentary will be fast paced with lots of big city shots, to capture the feel of actually being in the industry. I contacted an up and coming singer that I knew resides in Atlanta with hopes of catching her at a live performance and interviewing her. Her name is Algebra Blessett, she never confirmed, but I had faith that God would work it out. She did not end up responding and I did not get the interview. I was only there for two days though. Unlike the winter break when I stayed in large city's for weeks at a time, just a weekend is not enough time to get high profile artist without luck. Their schedules are too unpredictable. However, I will keep in touch with her and will hopefully make a trip back to Atlanta to include her in the story.


My goal was to get stories from all different areas of the entertainment industry. As of now I only have actors, models and an agent. This is good, but if possible It would still be nice to capture a musical artist as well. If not, it won't hurt my story, it is just preference.

Last wednesday, Jan. 27, 2010, I found an article in the Famuan about a new Rattler named Ebony Morgan from Americas Next Top Model. Her story was perfect! She made it to the top finals of the competition, but dropped out by choice. Here is a clip from the article:

"Morgan stated that the competition was not what she expected and too much for her to handle.:

“At the time it was really just me not knowing myself, all of the pressure,” said Morgan, “The experience was tremendously different from home.” Click here to see the full article.

I just saw her the other day in the cafe, and looked at her wondering if she was a model. Though she was hidden in everyday student wear (sweats), I was a photographer before anything else, and I have that eye. I contacted Kristen Swilley, the writer of the article to see if she could send Ebony my information.

I am also aware that there is another Rattler on campus named Paul from the BET reality series College Hill. I plan on contacting him to see if he is interested in being apart of the project as well.


Though the documentary will only be 15 minutes for class, I have gotten a lot of great and credible sources and I plan on expanding the project after graduation. Paul and Ebony would make great contributions to the story because Reality T.V has played a major part in the change of the entertainment industry.

BLOG ENTRY #1c

After all the anticipation, "D-Day," is finally here. That is what specialized reporting  seniors refer to documentary assignment day as. It really is the moment of truth. The day you get your story, who you will be working with, and what your role will be; all things that will determine how the next three months of our lives will go, not to mention our grade.

I am by no means a shy or nervous person, but when the pitches began, for some reason those childhood butterflies resurfaced. With each name he called before mine, my heart began to pound harder and harder. I looked over at my partner in crime, Marsha Buchanan, that didn't help. She said later that she was fine and I made her nervous because I'm usually the one to hold it all together. She said she could literally see my heart thumping from under my shirt. Oddly this was one of the scariest days of my college career, I couldn't wait to get it over with.

Just my luck, I was one of the last people to get their assignments. Though I was still nervous, I was excited for Marsha because she got the doc. she wanted.

"Brandon McCaskill," Prof. Jones says, and I nearly had a heart attack. "Reporter, videographer and the editor for........ Quicksand." So, there goes every organ in my body ready to flush through my digestive system, I couldn't believe it! All I could do was worship the lord and thank him for working this thing out. Though I have my work cut out for me ahead with taking on this project as a one man band, I was kind of relieved. I was semi-worried about getting a partner that was not as passionate as I was. I have heard tons of horror stories from the years before.

With all that being said, the moment of truth has come and it is time to get to work.

The first thing I did was call the guy I had already contacted to inform him that the story was a go. He is an ex-cast member of a popular reality T.V series that is currently enrolled at FAMU.

I am also trying to multitask next week when the royal court goes to Atlanta for the battle of the bands. I contacted a singer, that I met through networking in Atlanta last year, about possibly being apart of the project.  I also know that a popular childhood actor is currently enrolled at Georgia State. I reached out to my friends there to see if they can get his contact information. It would be so great if I could get him to participate in the project.

I have also been exploring the feel I want to give the documentary with graphics. I definitely want to play off of sand with either transitions, sound effects, and the logo for the project. I'm envisioning narration over video of the fast paced city life, b-roll of photo shoots, runway shows, lights, cameras, then sand falling from the top of the screen, then shaking and leaving the words Quicksand covered in sand. This concept is similar to when people cover glue with glitter in arts and crafts. I just need to figure out how I'm, going to bring it to life on screen.

Music is something that is going to play a major part in this documentary. With any project, music adds the mood element to productions. I am currently looking for the fast paced techno music to use for fashion reference, sunny hollywood sounding music for the actor portion and also some transition music. I need something that is sudden that will evoke that there is more to the story and I will go into the more serious instrumentals for the hard facts associated with the story.

BLOG ENTRY #1b

Today, Jan. 14, 2010, I pitched my three documentary ideas. What an amazing experience. Of course Quicksand was my preference, but I was content with any of the stories I pitched. I strategically pitched Quicksand second because I did not want my preference to be transparent. I wanted to give them all my best and pray for the best. Plus, I noticed that sometimes people are still winding down from talking, writing and applause from the previous presentation and I wanted Quicksand to have everyones undivided attention without them having to wait too long.

Surprisingly, my first pitch went awesome. It appeared to be under our allotted two minutes because Prof. Jones did not cut me off. My presentation even made me want to look further into the topic; the class gave me their undivided attention and seemed intrigued by it. That gave me the juice i needed for Quicksand.

I started my pitch for Quicksand by making the class relate to it by acknowledging that I knew many of them preferred entertainment over hardcore news. I went on to addressing some of the things people don't hear about it everyday and how this documentary would be helping people. Before I know it, Jones cut me off. I couldn't believe how fast time flew by. I wouldn't worry about it too much because I had one more to go.

The third pitch was exciting. I got the class involved by having them, stand for visual references and they seemed to enjoy it.  I remember looking out and locking eyes with my classmate, Letita Skippings, she was so attentive and appeared to really be enjoying my presentation. By the time I finished, I felt confident in my pitches but I felt my first and third pitches overshadowed Quicksand; maybe I was just being hard on myself for being cut off.

After class I went straight to my friend Marsha Buchanan to see what she thought and she said that pitch #3 was the strongest. We both went to Letitia, who said pitches #1 directly impacted one of the major life decisions she was about to make, but Quicksand was good too because she also wants to pursue entertainment.

At this point, It is in Gods hands. I put my all into all three stories and I honestly would not be disappointed if he didn't choose Quicksand; I would just take it as God's will. Next week is the moment of truth.

BLOG ENTRY #1a

Florida A&M University's School of Journalism & Graphic Communications hosts an annual Doc. Night, which is a night where the 5 best documentaries from the specialized reporting class are debuted for the public to see.

News, which is the foundation of the SJGC's journalism program, has been a great training ground all these years, but I often times felt restricted by the simplicity of it. After years of watching my predecessors present their documentaries at Doc. Night, my time has finally come. I am so excited because this is the moment i've been waiting for; the day I could finally release my creative wings in the SJGC, and show the world what has been balling up inside of me for so long.

Since the day I found out we had to do a documentary, my freshman year, I knew I wanted to do something about the entertainment industry; I have had aspirations of doing cartoon voiceovers, red carpet corresponding, acting and commercial modeling since my elementary days. The million dollar question was: where do I go from there? The entertainment industry is so broad and tons of documentaries have already been done on it.

During the Fall of 2009, I reminisced about my journey, how far I've come with my pursuits of in the entertainment industry. For the majority of my college career, my mindset was that college was just something to do because it has always been the expectation; thus I was a C, occasional B student. Schoolwork ranked last on my priority list; my radio show, photography and getting signed with a modeling agency was much more important.

In my mind, I was locked down in tallahassee for 19 week increments at a time. Therefore I had to make use of my christmas, spring and summer breaks by going to New York/L.A for modeling portfolio development or fashion shows; NYC is only four hours away from my home in Maryland.

During these trips, I would see things, experience things and learn things that I realized people would not know existed solely by dreaming from home; they had to see it for themselves. Chasing a dream of becoming a successful model, actor or anything in entertainment industry, "ain't no crystal stare," as Langston Hughes would say.

By my junior year of college, I began retract my thinking that college was holding me back from my dream; I was losing my youth behind these stupid books while all my friends that didn't go to college were already getting singing, acting and modeling deals. However, becoming a journalist opened my eyes to a different perspective of the world. After learning to research, organize my thoughts and how to tell a story, I came to the realization that my documentary idea was right before my eyes the entire time.

I took this documentary as an opportunity to speak to the people like the person I used to be. There are many people that long to be in an industry that is not for everyone.

If not careful,  It can lure you in with its flashy lights and get you in sticky situations you never imagined. Backing out is not always an option.

After praying on what to name this documentary, It seemed as if God spoke to my spirit and led me to look up the definition of Quicksand. This is what I found:

Quicksand: A place or situation into which entry can be swift and sudden but from which extrication can be difficult or impossible.

That was all I needed to hear. Today, January 7th, 2010, Professor Kenneth Jones assigned us our days to pitch. Though we will only be producing one documentary, we have to pitch three story ideas and draft up treatments for all of them. I pitch next Thursday, January 14th, wish me luck! (I sure hope he chooses this one :-/)