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48 Hours to make a film!!! What? And you want it to be good? OK.

Posted by kenarno1 on June 6, 2016
Posted in: Entertainment. Tagged: . Leave a comment

48 Hours to make a film!!! What? And you want it to be good? OK.

 

So a few weeks ago a group of my filmmaking colleagues and I decided to participate in this year’s DC 48 Hour Film Project. Basically, you have 48 hours to write, shoot, edit and turn in your film. They give you a genre, character, prop, and line of dialogue that must be in the film. This keeps you from preplanning or doing the bulk of the work ahead of time.

 

I’ve done this competition before. Many times. And have had some stinkers and some really good projects. We actually won the Baltimore 48HFP in 2013 which was an outstanding honor. We represented our city in the International Competition at Filmapalooza in New Orleans that year.

 

Well, someone made a comment recently that kind of irked me a bit. (Not kind of. It pissed me off.) If you’re so good at these 48 films why don’t you do a feature? Ok. Done. Check out the trailer for my feature in which I created the story, produced and star in. The Night Watchmen Teaser/Trailer.

Now…

The reason I like to do these projects is…they are fun. I get to work with people I enjoy collaborating with. You don’t always get to pick and choose whom you work with. But in this competition you can. My philosophy…choose a team of talented folks, easy to work with, fun to be around, and then get out of their way and let them do their job. And that’s how I handle it. I am listed as the director but everyone on the team has a say in the final product. That’s what filmmaking is all about. Every person on the project pitches in, from the writers, to wardrobe, editing, music, sfx, actors and more. It translates into an entertaining well-made film. Are there moments of tension during the process? Yep. But because we have a group we know and have worked with before those moments turn into opportunities to make the film the best it can be.

 

We also bring new people on board as well. These are people just starting or trying to get some credits. It’s a good way to introduce new crew and actors because for better or worse at the end of the weekend you have a finished film that will screen in just a few days. And folks from every team I’ve been on go on and collaborate on future projects.

 

So to the person who wants to know why I still do these 48HFP. Well to put it simply…it’s fun! I love the process and will do it as often as I can with a great group of people who feel the same way. Surround yourself with like-minded individuals and the final result will always be a positive!

 

So check out our entry into this year’s DC 48HFP! We walked away with 5 awards! Best Writing-Best Ensemble-Best Costumes-Best SFX and 3rd Place Overall.

 

It was by far one of the best year’s I have been involved in. So many great films deserving of awards!!! It’s good to be involved in a filmmaking community that produces so many phenomenal productions. So the next time you’re looking to do something over the weekend and you really don’t want to sleep…sign up for the 48 Hour Film Project!!! It’s a hell of a good time!!! The Baltimore 48 is happening July 8th!!! Register your team today!

WHOA!!! That just blew up!!!

Posted by kenarno1 on June 2, 2016
Posted in: Entertainment. Tagged: , , , , , . 1 Comment

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Six years ago, maybe seven, my good friend Dan DeLuca stopped by my studio in Baltimore to talk for a bit. Don’t exactly remember what it was about but we got onto the topic of doing a film that took place in the building where my studio presently was calling home. What kind of film could we do using one locale, a certain group of actors, a limited budget and was as entertaining as hell? Well we didn’t come up with any good ideas that day. But that night, after having a few cocktails and thinking about it, I called Dan and had the perfect idea! We’re security guards and we get trapped in the building fighting vampires!!! Dan didn’t seem too excited, at first. It was really late. He says 3 am. I beg to differ. But after waking up a bit and appeasing my slightly inebriated self he came to like what was spewing from my face hole. Within a few days he had a rough outline for a feature horror film entitled, THE NIGHT WATCHMEN. It starred us, using one location and best of all…it was low budget. It was a genre that most definitely sells and using the actors we wanted would be as funny as shit.

 

Fast forward to now!!!

 

So here we are 7 years later on the precipice of releasing our film. We still need a distributor, which is the key to getting our film out to the masses. We are working vigorously on that and the moment it happens we will put it out there. But recently we released our teaser trailer for the film. We weren’t sure what was going to happen with it. Would anyone even watch it? Even care? Our director has a following and so do some of our actors. Maybe their following will like it.

 

Dan and I always knew it was a good project, maybe even great. We came up with the idea GOD damn it!!! I’m a little biased. I think all my shit is great! BUT YOU NEVER KNOW!

 

So our director and producer sent the teaser trailer to a couple of their contacts in LA. And we waited. Just like fishing for that huge trophy Marlin! You put your bait out there and wait. And when it hits, it’s an incredible rush!!!

 

At first there was nothing. The water was steely calm. No sign of any fish, big or small. And then…Deadline Hollywood picked it up. WHAT??? That’s awesome!!! Let’s spread the news. We tweeted and facebooked and shared and liked and instagrammed. Within an hour it was all over our social media pages. People were finally getting to see what we’ve been working on! And they seemed to like it. The comments were pouring in! We had hooked something but were not sure exactly how big yet. And then after a small fight…BOOM!!! Entertainment Weekly picked it up!!! WTF??? We’ve hooked that huge ass marlin I was talking about!!! I’ve been fishing before, but never hooked something this big!!! It then jumped up out of the water and we saw it for the first time!!! And it was beautiful. It went from something our friends liked to EVERYWHERE!!! All over the world!!! Germany, Brazil, Russia. Every horror film site and the like was reposting and reviewing!!! Most were awesome reviews!!! Some folks criticized the trailer. It is the internet. Somebody is gonna hate no matter what. But the thing just blew up!!! It was phenomenal. Finally folks got to see and taste what we’ve been working toward this past year and a half. People are ecstatic!!! The excitement is real! We cannot wait to release our film for all to see. We knew we had a great product. We just need to get the marlin on the boat!!! In other words…get a distributor. And that’s coming. We’ve gotten such great exposure over the past few weeks. It’s been a fantastic journey so far and hopefully will continue. Keep spreading the word about our little indie film shot here in Maryland. We are so grateful for all this excitement and hype!!! Currently we are over 80K views and growing. Can’t wait to release this beast so you guys can see how much fun we had making it!!! So many magnificent folks involved. Please go to our Facebook page and follow us on Twitter @TNWmovie for updates.

 

Below is that marlin I was talking about: