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