Where did I say he was DP??? I said he 'shot' those movies, meaning he was the one holding the camera (fyi, the DP hardly ever touches the camera). Although I'm sure he was probably DP on at least one of those as well... ----- Original Message ----- From: Craig Miller To: MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU Sent: Tuesday, July 22, 2008 11:31 PM Subject: Re: [MOPO] Can a major director shoot an "epic" on a low budget?
At 10:41 PM 7/22/2008, Robert D. Brooks wrote: the lighting and camera work also leaves a good deal to be desired. I'll pass your critique along: he only shot movies like X-Men II, Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants, The Fantastic Four, Elf, Paycheck, etc... oh, and the Canadian classic Hookers on Davie! I'm sure he'll be pleased to hear your thoughts... And, what kind of quality do you expect for an 80+ minute film shot in less than 5 days??? I'm confused. X-Men II's DP was Newton Thomas Sigel. Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants' was done by John Bailey. For Fantastic Four it was Oliver Reed. Etc. Etc. Why does your DP use all those aliases when he works? Craig. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Craig Miller" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Robert D. Brooks" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Cc: <MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU> Sent: Tuesday, July 22, 2008 9:54 PM Subject: Re: [MOPO] Can a major director shoot an "epic" on a low budget? IMDB is a wonderful website. It's invaluable. But they don't only list feature films. They list TV episodes (actually series, but with listings for each episode). And they list short films. One minute. Two minutes. Ten minutes. Twenty minutes in length. I'm discussing feature films. If you include everything, of all lengths, designed for any and all mediums, than yes, your number isn't some wild ass guess with no basis in fact. It's still a guess but it's closer to reality. If you're talking about actual feature length films made with at least the hope of a theatrical release, then your number is way way way off. Even if we accept the IMDB number as being accurate, and double it for the rest of the year, it's only half the number you first gave and only an eighth of the number you later increased it to. But, of course, we can't really accept the IMDB number because it isn't only feature films. And while this film you give as an example might be feature length -- I'll take your word for it, since what's on YouTube is just 10 minutes long -- it's also apparently soft-core porn, which can be made very very cheaply. The acting, from the couple minutes I watched, is hardly top quality; the lighting and camera work also leaves a good deal to be desired. For a Troma direct-to-DVD, it's fine, but it isn't theatrical quality. And I'm guessing I must have missed the parts that qualify it as being much better than what comes out of the studios. Oh, and if you want to throw credits back and forth, I've worked on major studio films and independent films. I've been a guest speaker at film festivals and distribution markets in the US, the UK, France, Italy, and the Screen Producers Association of Australia (an organization of independent film producers) just asked me to come speak at their conference in November. (I've even been on panels with Lloyd Kaufman.) I've worked with George Lucas, Stephen Spielberg, Jim Henson, Tom Hanks, John Boorman, Christopher Lee, Edward Woodward, Ken Russell, Anthony Shaffer, Robin Hardy, Richard Lester, Richard Donner, Howard Gottfried, Danny Melnick, Frank Oz, Frank Marshall, Luigi Cingolani, John Carpenter, Oliver Stone, Ed Pressman, etc. etc. etc. So I do know what I'm talking about. Craig. At 08:42 PM 7/22/2008, Robert D. Brooks wrote: So, if $20 million is a 'low budget,' this is what I did with about 1/8th of 1% of that amount (meaning I would have to make this movie almost 1,000 times - just to have a budget high enough to be considered 'low')... Although, I'll warn anyone that dares click: NSFW (it is a Troma-film after all, so don't come crying to me if...)! ;o) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTMoKB9Zk0E Cheers, Bob PS. Note to Craig: You may just notice a couple names in the credits there: one is currently the chairman of the Independent Film and TV Alliance and the other is the head of the oldest independent film studio in existence, so while I may not have your 30 years in the business (only about 20 here), understand that I do know what I'm talking about! And, just to prove I'm right: http://www.imdb.com/List?year=2008 You'll notice that there are about 12,000 movies listed there - just from the last 6 months (and they only list a fraction of all the movies made - very few student films, foreign films, ultra-low-budget films, etc...). I guess I should be expecting an apology?... ----- Original Message ----- From: Craig Miller To: Robert D. Brooks Cc: MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU Sent: Tuesday, July 22, 2008 8:20 PM Subject: Re: [MOPO] Can a major director shoot an "epic" on a low budget? You're missing the point. You're wrong about the number of movies made. Your numbers all seem to be wild guesses and you haven't specified if you're talking about feature length films or including all lengths and formats. I can only believe you're doing the latter because your numbers are just way, way off for the former. (And what makes you think each film festival gets applications for a completely different group of films? Sundance requires it hasn't been shown anywhere else before them but most festivals have no such rule. And they don't say films can't play other festivals after them.) Please don't insult us by suggesting that only you are so smart as to know about films not made by the Hollywood studios or that we don't know about low budget films. I assure you, that isn't the case. And if you think the super low budget filmmakers all make wonderful movies, you clearly haven't seen a significant enough percentage of them. A large percentage of the indies are godawful. As are the majority of studio pictures. But they don't suddenly become good because they're made with low low budgets. I've been in this business over 30 years now and I've worked with and seen pictures at all different budget levels. The budget -- high or low -- isn't what makes them good. Craig. Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Craig Miller Wolfmill Entertainment [EMAIL PROTECTED] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Craig Miller Wolfmill Entertainment [EMAIL PROTECTED] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content. Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content.