Most Behind the Scenes features are about production — the actual shooting of a film or video. This is a little different in that it’s about preproduction — how a film or video project gets to the point where it’s actually being made. Preproduction is a lot of work. Forgetting for a moment the act of coming up with an actual idea, before a single camera rolls on any project there is an extensive and daunting list of things to organize: scriptwriting; casting; set design; prop sourcing; wardrobe; crew contracting; equipment planning; on and on.

No plan, as the saying goes, survives contact with the enemy, and that’s certainly true in filmmaking.

Because I have to function as my own producer, I’m fairly methodical and organized in preproduction, and I thought it might be interesting to share my process and the materials I use to get a video like Lady Grinning Soul off the ground. What follows is the original casting notice for the project, which I posted both on Craigslist and around the online transgendered community here in Toronto, and the original script, shotlist and storyboards.

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Local arts & culture blog Torontoist.com picked up The Cuber and did a great little story on it. Writer Steve Kupferman interviewed me this week about the short, and the macrodocumentary concept in general, as a kind of “Hot Docs aperitif”, which makes me feel good, particularly since I’m going to miss the entire festival this year.

“If Limeback’s goofy likability doesn’t win you over then the clacking of the cube while he manipulates it with his super-speedy android fingers probably will.”

This Guy Solves Rubik’s Cubes Really Quickly on Torontoist

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We’re looking to produce an EPK for a short film, music video, commercial or webisode production.

This service is completely pro bono! This isn’t a trick; we need a sample EPK to solicit paying work with, and figure we might as well make our work useful to someone.

What Flyweight Films can do for you:

• B-Roll: Behind-the-scenes footage
• Interviews: Professionally lit and recorded, TV-style interviews with your talent/cast/director/crew/etc
• Stills: Limited behind-the-scenes and unit photography
• Integration: Of your existing footage
• Titles, 3rds, grading and music: All professionally done and licensing-free
• Delivery: An amazing sub-5 minute HD mini documentary on your production, which you are free to use however you want — YouTube, DVDs, theatrically, whatever
• Branding & credits: A 5 second intro bumper with the FWF logo (see any of our existing videos for example), as well as your own logo or bumper. Outro credits with FWF crew info, as well as a link to your site or production page.

We’re professional, creative and easy to work with. We can accommodate any production schedule. If you’d like to work together, we’d love to hear more about your project. Use the contact page or email us at info [at] flyweightfilms [dot] com.

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I’m shooting the pilot episode of a funny, short web series July 4th to 7th, 2009. It’s called Act Natural, and it’s an original, dry comedy series about the surreal world of commercial actors. It follows the lives of three less-than-perfect actors with visions of success but very different viewpoints as they try to make careers for themselves in film & TV. Think Flight of the Conchords, It’s Always Sunny, and Arrested Development. The show is comprised of short, web-only episodes 5-10 minutes in length.

I’m looking for enthusiastic, dedicated up-and-comers who’d like to get involved with the production side of the project in the areas of wardrobe, hair/makeup, production co-ordination, craft, sound, set decoration or design, and props. If you’re trying to build a reel or resume, or want to get involved in indie production, this might be a great way to get your feet wet (or wetter).

This is a no-budget, beyond-indie web show, but you never know with these things. I’m looking to build a great up-and-coming cast and crew who can learn, grow and find opportunities through the project. My plan is to build a small following for the show on the web, and then leverage that either through sponsorship, syndication, or reproduction for a larger media body.

All positions are non-paying for the pilot, but there will be a limited budget for essential items, food, etc. Experience isn’t crucial; resourcefulness, enthusiasm and a good attitude are.

You can download the script here.

If this sounds like something you might be interested in, leave a reply or get in touch!

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Act Natural is an original, dry comedy series about the surreal world of commercial actors. It follows the lives of three less-than-perfect actors with visions of success but very different viewpoints as they try to make careers for themselves in film & TV. Think Flight of the Conchords, It’s Always Sunny, and Arrested Development. The show is comprised of short, web-only episodes 5-10 minutes in length.

This is a no-budget, beyond-indie web production, but you never know with these things. I’m looking to build a great up-and-coming cast and crew who can learn, grow and find opportunities through the project. My plan is to build a small following for the show on the web, and then leverage that either through sponsorship, syndication, or reproduction for a larger media body.

Casting is taking place May 17th through the 19th, and the pilot is shooting at the beginning of July. I’m casting for three leads and a bunch of great supporting and recurring characters.

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While it may seem like it’s already everywhere, video is the new kid on the internet media block. The rich, good-looking, smart new kid with a bright future and a car, but still, compared to the photography club nerds and the moody creative writers, video’s barely out of the blocks.

That might be why, despite how much surplus design talent is currently devoted to the production of portfolio-centric site templates for the budding web designer, photographer, graphic designer, et al., the poor, misunderstood filmmaker and videographer get stuck with only a handful of options. Creating a good and good looking portfolio site for video is such a unique and specific task, there just aren’t that many people doing it.

“You put a new piece of work on your site / release a DVD / have a short film featured in a festival. Pick only one of the following scenarios: A) 1000 people who think you’re talented all check it out. B) Nobody gives a shit.”

So what do you do? One thing you don’t do is create a traditional video portfolio site. You’ve seen those. They spawn tiny flash windows with structured interfaces and lumbering loading graphics. They beep, slide and wipe their way to tiny thumbnail video files that require you to have your nose an inch from the screen just to see clearly. Flash is great (and great for video), but as we’ve learned over the past couple of years, when a site is 100% flash you’re lucky if 10% of visitors make it past your snazzy load screen before clicking the back button. You still see tons of flash portfolios by really talented, working pros (Mara Shiavocampo, for example, via newsvideographer.net), and there are even templates to help you create them (run, far away, from anything with a film reel graphic), but that doesn’t mean you should ignore all common sense and progress and build one yourself.

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