How do I get into movies? Any open submissions of ideas for film companies? in Men Behind the Monsters Forum

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How do I get into movies? Any open submissions of ideas for film companies?

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Tim Smyth		#21	[-]
Jun 11 12 6:19 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Hey Jim, Actually it is FM #69. I bought this at a yard sale several years ago, and read that piece and was surprised, or maybe not so surprised, at the who made the film. Thanks for sharing some effects tidbits, but if you don't mind a few questions, I imagine these are all built up puppets, were they? The article states the film was made in seven weeks, was that just the filming, or was that everything? As you know, sometimes these projects start because someone has made a puppet or two, who then meets somebody who also has made a puppet or two, then everything falls into place, kind of like the Beatles. Too bad the last line got cut off, but for such a short piece, it is really inspirational. Tim
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Tim Smyth		#22	[-]
Jun 11 12 7:44 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Two more quick questions, if you have time, how big were the stop motion models? And did they have wire armatures or ball and socket? I am thinking wire, but you never know. Tim
Aupperle		#23	[-]
Jun 11 12 7:59 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Tim Smyth wrote: Hey Jim, Actually it is FM #69. I bought this at a yard sale several years ago, and read that piece and was surprised, or maybe not so surprised, at the who made the film. Thanks for sharing some effects tidbits, but if you don't mind a few questions, I imagine these are all built up puppets, were they? The article states the film was made in seven weeks, was that just the filming, or was that everything? As you know, sometimes these projects start because someone has made a puppet or two, who then meets somebody who also has made a puppet or two, then everything falls into place, kind of like the Beatles. Too bad the last line got cut off, but for such a short piece, it is really inspirational. Yes, all the puppets in "When the Nightmares Walk" were built up. Rob's giant demon and my cyclops were built over the old foot tall GI Joe dolls because that's the best we could come up with for armatures at the time. Rob's dragon had a wire armature and was about 15 inches long. I don't recall what we meant about the film being made in seven weeks but perhaps that was all the time we spent on it. Since the Super 8 camera was mine I think that most of the stop motion was filmed at my parent's house. There are a couple of shots where we combined the stop motion puppet with the live action Fred by filming the scene outdoors in daylight as forced perspective. The dragon was placed on a two foot wide table right in front of the camera while Fred pixelated himself 30 or so feet away. I know that Fred felt rather silly moving one frame at a time when a family sat down nearby to have their picnic. It was a great learning experience working with Rob and Fred on our "When the Nightmares Walk" and "Great American Dinosaur" short films. Rob went on to animate most of the talking monster at the end of FLESH GORDON and while Fred didn't continue with stop motion beyond our short films his father did build our armatures for PLANET OF DINOSAURS. I later made one more short film called "Tormented" with a demon created by Stephen Czerkas over an armature by Rob Maine. I always liked working as a team on a film with different people and talents to learn from. Hey, I even met Stephen the same day I first met Phil Tippett over at Forry's house for a Meet Ray Harryhausen Open House Day. All these years later I get to help Phil with his MAD GOD and work with Stephen on various little projects too. Couldn't be happier the way things turned out. Last Edited By: Aupperle Jun 11 12 8:41 PM. Edited 3 times.
Tim Smyth		#24	[-]
Jun 11 12 11:54 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Thanks Jim for all the info. You devised some really clever work around solutions for lack of suitable equipment. Very inspirational, and that is the spirit of beginner's film making, I hope all the kids wanting to get into this stuff are reading those posts. Tim
MovieMatt		#25	[-]
Jun 18 12 7:17 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Say Jim, nice article about "When the Nightmares Walk" on FM. It was awesome when you got recognition. I was wondering if you have an article for your film "The Great American Dinosaur"?
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Aupperle		#26	[-]
Jul 8 12 12:00 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	MovieMatt wrote: Say Jim, nice article about "When the Nightmares Walk" on FM. It was awesome when you got recognition. I was wondering if you have an article for your film "The Great American Dinosaur"? Hi MovieMatt, Oh yes, we were all very excited to get that mention of our short film "When the Nightmares Walk" in Famous Monsters. I did give Forry some photos from "The Great American Dinosaur" but I never saw those printed. After that I did a series of tests as well as a short film called "Tormented" with a demon puppet that Stephen Czerkas built over an armature by Rob Maine. I'll post a scan from 16 mm frame of a rear projection test I did with that puppet. 16 mm home movie frame dates from about 1972 and shows a test of rear projected background using 35 mm slides Last Edited By: Aupperle Jul 9 12 11:09 AM. Edited 5 times.
bipolarber		#27	[-]
Jul 8 12 2:29 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Just a quick comment here: 1) just about any digital camera can be used for stop motion these days. I use a 10 megapixel Finepix model, and it can also be used as an HD movie camera. (just bring along a laptop you can dump the files to, as it will only record about 10 minutes of video on each HD card.) 2) I strongly suggest that if you want to experience movie making, you should look up "The 48 Hour Film Project" in your area, and make contact with a team, and ask if you can join up with them for your first year. This is a film race, where teams make short films in a single weekend... You can learn TONS doing these! "[The audiance] will populate the darkness with more horrors than all the horror writers in Hollywood could think of. If you make the screen dark enough, the mind's eye will read anything into it you want! We're great ones for the dark patches." -VAL LEWTON
bromstaker		#28	[-]
Jul 13 12 9:11 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Madeleymade - I think you would enjoy a documentary entitled Zombiegirl. It's about a 14 year old girl who makes her own zombie film with help from family, friends and folks from her community. I think you would like this film and that it would be helpful to you in your filmaking aspirations. Best of luck to you.
MovieMatt		#29	[-]
Jul 15 12 7:04 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Aupperle wrote: Hi MovieMatt, Oh yes, we were all very excited to get that mention of our short film "When the Nightmares Walk" in Famous Monsters. I did give Forry some photos from "The Great American Dinosaur" but I never saw those printed. After that I did a series of tests as well as a short film called "Tormented" with a demon puppet that Stephen Czerkas built over an armature by Rob Maine. I'll post a scan from 16 mm frame of a rear projection test I did with that puppet. 16 mm home movie frame dates from about 1972 and shows a test of rear projected background using 35 mm slides Whoa! That monster is way ahead of his time. This is awesome! I like it. Thanks for this awesome picture. I like the title though.
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How do I get into movies? Any open submissions of ideas for film companies?