Saturday, October 9th, 2021, Gauntlet is officially done!
I’m at a loss for words.
As a young, eager, hungry driven 25-year-old that began writing the first draft of the screenplay back in 2011 to today, a weathered, tired, lessons-learned savvy 36-year-old filmmaker. Hours, days, weeks, months and years of problem solving, networking and collaborating have finally come to this day, this moment of sheer joy of completing my first independent feature film. My state of mind is fully aware that not all first time filmmakers get to do a feature film and complete it, so I am extremely grateful and humble that today has finally arrived. Is it the best movie ever made? Absolutely not. Is it the best movie I could’ve done with the experience, resources and my current skillset of visual effects/animation? One hundred percent yes. Sure the film has the common trappings of a low budget indie film and yes, I’ll be the first one to share that I wish I could go back and re-do some scenes. Trust me, I shot a third of the film back in 2012 that I WISH I could re-shoot but that’s the process of growing as an artist in creating art. There comes a point where you have to halt, agree that the film is the best at where it’s at and move on.
Sound Mixer Marshall Bales applies the finishing touches to the overall mix on September 21st, 2021.
It has been 3,548 days since the very first blog post announced this project (New Digital Film Project) and it has taken me over the course of close to a decade to complete it. The take away here is you learn by doing and not giving up on your passion, even if it takes you years to finish. There may be times where you have to step away, take a break and recharge as I had to do back in 2018. But don’t give up on yourself and see it through to the end. The incredible lessons I learned from this experience will definitely be applied to whatever my next film project may be. For now, let me update you on what’s coming up as I try to settle down my elated emotions.
Film Premiere
Gauntlet’s GRAND PREMIERE is currently slated for Saturday, November 27th at the AMC Classic Findlay theater. Negotiations worked wonderfully in doing business with AMC and I would highly encourage any filmmaker that wants to rent a theater for their films’ premiere to reach out to them. They were nothing but professional and I had a great experience. I’m incredibly excited to have my premiere at this theater because it’s one of the places where I went to see movies as a kid growing up, living near the area. Now I get to see my film in this setting as an adult which is wild to think about. As I teased in the previous post, I have to package and deliver my film technically in order for it to play back properly in a modern day movie theater setting. It’s known as a Digital Cinema Package (DCP) and it’s essentially a digital version of your film in a 35mm film print. Instead of explaining the entire process about it, I found a very thorough explanation for you to read more about it here.
There is an option for you to create a DCP using your non-linear editing software like Adobe Premiere, however I wanted to hire a professional motion picture company to do it for me. After speaking with trusted filmmakers in my network, I was referred to Selig Polyscope Company who are based out of Dallas, TX. This was a strategic move because the company boasted it could not only produce a DCP without me trying to figure it out (and probably screwing it up), but they would also troubleshoot the product on different movie theater projectors to make sure the DCP actually worked. This is a huge weight lifted off of my shoulders because to be honest, it’s one less thing for me to worry about right now. I look forward in doing business with Selig while I can just focus on making the premiere the best experience possible for the cast/crew and their families who plan to attend.
Selig Polyscope Co.
Promotional Materials
Speaking of the premiere experience, I really want to go above and beyond to make this particular event really stand out. With this project taking a decade long to make, the premiere has to be a memorable one, right? So my creative brain went to work and I decided on making a couple of fun, retro items.
- A retro movie ticket invite
- A swag bag for the Cast (with movie theater candy)
- a notebook with the Gauntlet poster as the cover
- playing cards with the Gauntlet shield design as the cover
- retro trading cards of each Gauntlet character (9 total) that is wrapped in custom designed wax paper
- Two Gauntlet updated movie poster prints
To make the trading cards even more authentic, I made sure that I got a strip of bubble gum (Fruit Stripe) to place inside the pack and hand folded each one while using a hot iron to seal each pack, all 100 of them. Not only is the cast/crew going to get a trading card pack, but I wanted each person who attends the premiere to have one as well.
Could I have gone through a company to do all of this for me? Sure, I even reached out to two exceptional trading card companies to get a quote on 100 packs with 9 cards each (900 total trading cards). After seeing the dotted line I realized I really didn’t have the budget to fully invest in this “ask” compared to the overall investment I’ve already did for the premiere. I did figure out though I can do it myself for the fraction of the cost. I instead invested in having the tradings cards/wax paper printed and shipped to my place. I know I’ll have extras so the idea is if and when we get selected to show Gauntlet at a film festival, I’ll be handing the trading card packs out to those who attend the festival and watch the film. Please understand that these promotional materials are not necessary to do a premiere for your indie film, this is strictly a personal choice. Since my film takes place in the late 80’s/90’s, I really wanted something tangible to give to my supporters that reminded me of that era when a movie came out. Nothing screams 80’s/90’s than trading cards so I’m hoping that everyone will appreciate my efforts when they hold a pack in their hand and taste that stale bubblegum. We shall see!
FilmFreeway
Now that the film is officially complete, I have created a project web page on FilmFreeway‘s platform and have uploaded a private screener of the movie. What happens next is whichever festival I intend to submit the film too, the festival programmers will have a chance to watch the film (password protected) and be able to read up on everything that’s on the Gauntlet page. This includes credits, specifications, still photos, trailer, reviews (coming soon), press kit and more. What’s even better is that only the festivals that I submit too will have access to the private screener with the password being provided. This is great because it helps keep the film private for only those who are intended to watch the film. That doesn’t mean that no one can view the Gauntlet project profile on their site. Instead of having access to the film, the user will have access to the movie trailer along with all of the other previous mentioned information. Finally, I’m using Vimeo to upload my screener, of which FilmFreeway recommends. Why I mention this is because Vimeo has a killer layout for their analytics in how your video (in this case movie) performs. Not only does the site track your views, but it breaks down each view for how long and when the viewing stops. This gives you the filmmaker a big advantage to almost test screen your movie to people, in this case it’s to festival programmers, to see which parts they chose to stop watching.
Using FilmFreeway as a submission platform is huge because as I stated in the previous Log, it’s an incredibly easy process. If you’re seriously considering creating a film, this is the way (or perhaps the only way) to go in submitting to festivals, if you do choose to go the festival route instead of going straight to online streaming.
You can check out the webpage yourself here, but be warned that you won’t be able to access the film.
Official Webpage Launched
Finally, another massive achievement is the official webpage for Gauntlet has been launched on October 4th, 2021! A lot of time and effort went into creating this online press kit that features SO MUCH STUFF: actor bios, synopsis, behind the scenes, crew highlights, director statements, Q&A and so much more. Having a web presence for your movie is paramount nowadays and after careful consideration, I strategically chose to create a webpage that is tied to my JEL Production site. When researching other successful indie films that have garnered a distribution deal, I went to see their online presence for the movie. Almost all had a Facebook page which is cool but when you clicked on the film’s standalone website, I got an error. I’m a touch surprised that if their movie website is no longer working that they had the link in the first place on their Facebook page, but I digress. This told me that the filmmakers chose to do a temporary site for their movie and then after the film got a deal to be viewed on streaming platforms, they chose to opt out of maintaining the website and kept the Facebook page. Personally, I found this to be in poor taste. Instead of doing a stand alone site, I chose to keep it here because I’m already invested heavily on this domain, so why not? Others may disagree and say that you should have a stand-alone website for your film but my thinking is that if I do another film project, I’ll be hosting that webpage here as well.
I’m very proud on how the page turned out. The layout looks very professional and it’s very user friendly, especially on desktop and laptops. I even have a “merch” section at the very bottom to where you yourself dear reader can purchase movie posters, t-shirts and hats if you want to become a fan of the movie! The future plans are that when the film gets distribution, I’ll put links at the very top of the page on where you can view the film. As it currently stands at the time of this post, the trailer is at the top of the page. Check it out!
Gauntlet’s Official Website
In conclusion for this update, I’m experiencing mixed emotions.
Joy, elation and grateful is at one end of the spectrum due to the shear fact that the movie is DONE! No more restless, anxious nights; no more wondering how to get a VFX shot done; no more putting out fires, IT’S COMPLETE! This feeling of achievement is so awesome that I am very blessed to have come this far in the journey because, let’s be real, this wasn’t an easy production. So many things could’ve gone wrong to the point of not being able to finish. Now standing past the finish line and looking back humbles me knowing that without the incredible support and sacrifice of my family and cast members (see pic below), Oct. 9th, 2021 wouldn’t have come.
On the other end of the emotional spectrum resides fear, anxiety and being petrified. What if COVID has a resurge and the premiere is cancelled next month? What if the DCP doesn’t work when everyone is seated in the theater? Will the people who choose to watch Gauntlet even like it or better yet finish it? Will festivals even bother to accept it? What if no distribution company wants to even make a deal? WHAT IF…? Those types of questions only increase if I choose to stay in that particular state of mind but it’s really hard not too.
At the end of the day, I set out to do something crazy, something that wasn’t guaranteed to be a “success”. But I find myself asking this reoccurring question in my mind: “What is success?”
The world has its own standard definition to what success looks like but ultimately I define what MY success looks like. Yes people liking the movie, having it accepted to festivals and getting distribution will be awesome, I’m not going to deny that. In fact I’ll celebrate that! But that alone shouldn’t be the ONLY metric that this project should be measured its “success” with. How about with no financial backing that I completed a sci-fi feature film that has over 750 VFX shots? What about asking people to give their talents to the project and each and every one of them, from lead actor to production assistant said yes with no monetary persuasion? Or how about finishing a feature length film on your own after moving between three different states in the process of making it? Finally, what about all of the failures and lessons learned on this project alone that has helped me tremendously in my career throughout the past decade?
Zoom call announcing updates and projected completion date with the main actors in Gauntlet on Nov. 15th, 2020.
My point is this; YOU set the terms on what success looks like. When you do and you focus on whatever that is, everything else will be your icing on the cake. So if people don’t like watching the movie, hey that’s okay, at least they watched it right?! If the film doesn’t get accepted to festivals, hey that’s okay, at least we’re having a premiere for all who WANT to be there to see it in person. You get the point.
Trust me it’s not easy to have this mindset but it’s a daily walk, a daily reminder to think positive. It’s truly the only way to NOT go insane, but that’s the mindset of a filmmaker. On to the next one!
“I love biting off more than I can chew and then figuring it out.”
– Jordan Peele (Get Out, Us, Nope)
