A screen2play Short Film — Hawaii Previous

“Hawaii Previous” was screen2play’s first film project, and ended up being the catalyst that turned us from a starving team of bloggers, to a starving team of aspiring filmmakers.

It was a short film entry for the Showdown in Chinatown film competition in November of 2011. The contest requirements were for the films to be under the category of a “Hawaiian Tale” and to incorporate the Pacific Ocean in some way. Hawaii Previous didn’t win, but it was selected as a top ten finalist.

How We Went About It 

The screen2play team figured everyone would want to showcase Hawaii’s beautiful orange sunsets and blue oceans—so we went a different route. We hope you like it.

Suggestions 

We highly recommend waiting for the full HD version to load (make sure the red HD is highlighted in the lower right) and to watch it in full screen. We don’t guarantee the film will be any better that way though, sorry.

If you don’t mind, leave us some notes and reactions in the comments below. Love it, hate it, or absolutely don’t get it—please share! It will help us become better story tellers in the future, we hope. 

Summary (This is our “trailer,” it will help help you understand the flick better). 

Set in a futuristic Hawaii wasteland in the year 4058, a tribe of survivors are living on an oceanless continent called Amasia. After the Pacific plate subducted, the Americas and Asia became one continent. Joon and Mestiza are two members from that tribe and search for edible food remnants everyday. 

That is, until they find something in their digging that is of much greater interest.

Starring: Hugh Chou and Jesse Starmer

Written by: Evan Nagle

Directed by: Dan Zelikman 

Film and Editing by: John Garcia

Hawaii Previous 

The DVD Extras

• Where It All Began — The Casting Call
• Hawaii Previous — Premier and Party Photos
• Our First Review! “Hawaii Previous Is Not Uninteresting”
• More Hawaii Previous Behind-The-Scenes

Thanks for checking it out everyone, 

— Dan

Hawaii Previous — Premier and Party Photos

I have no idea why I never posted these. Fail.

I suppose, it’s partly because we were considering entering “Hawaii Previous” into more film festivals (hence, we weren’t supposed to put it on the web) and a second part out of nervousness to post our first film project on the interneds. If you’re new to screen2play, “Hawaii Previous” was a short film we executed over a VERY short period of time to enter it into the Showdown in Chinatown film festival challenge in November of 2011.

Regardless, we had an awesome premier party at our production house, The Greenhouse. Check out some of the photos below.

Here are some more photos that were taken during the shoot (two days) and editing process (8, 9, or 104 nights after work).

You can find more behind-the-scenes updates about “Hawaii Previous” here.  

I’m uploading the film for its official web premier next (gulp),

— Dan

Two Indie Films You’ll Want To See and Probably Never Heard Of

With blockbusters like The Avengers, The Rise of the Dark Knight, and The Amazing Spiderman all coming out this summer, it’s difficult to make room for the “little guy” indies too. But these two films have strong, compelling arguments for movie lovers to find some extra time to catch them. 

From the team that brought you Little Miss Sunshine, comes the Stranger Than Fiction-esque story, Ruby Sparks. 

A novelist struggling with writer’s block finds romance in a most unusual way: by creating a female character he thinks will love him, then willing her into existence. 

Getting some buzz at Sundance, this fun plot has a refreshingly unique spin on the time travel concept. No Doc Brown (unfortunately), but Aubrey Plaza and Mark Duplass seem to bring a great story to life. 

Safety Not Guaranteed

Three magazine employees head out on an assignment to interview a guy who placed a classified ad seeking a companion for time travel.

I’ll be checking out both. 

— Dan 

Why Virtual Collaborative Screenplay Writing Is So Fun

Jesse Rogowsky and myself on the virtual set of our new animation project “Planet of the Abes.” Just another day at the office.

— Dan

Doggy Bags — A Short Film by Ed Burns & Tribeca Film Festival

I’m annoyed. My Mom works for American Express and I didn’t hear about this until it was too late.

American Express, a big supporter of independent film and the Tribeca Film Festival, held a contest called My Movie Pitch. In that contest, folks had to send a video for a movie pitch, that eventually would be made by Mr. Edward Burns.

Burns is a phenomenal story teller and director, and has a real knack for telling the human story though independent film. Some of my favorites are his smaller projects, but Kim and I watch them over and over.

• She’s The One
• The Groomsmen

Susan Brennan, an American Express cardholder and aspiring writer won the contest, and got to see her film idea fulfilled. As an aspiring filmmaker myself, that alone is inspiring. 

The movie is okay. All-in-all, it was a short story realized in a nice small production with actors you’ll recognize. Mostly, I think it’s really cool that Burns is working with new actors and aspiring filmmakers to help them get to the next level. The film is below, and the behind the scenes are below that. 

Doggy Bags — by Ed Burns

The Making of Doggy Bags

— Dan

The Dark Knight Rises — Trailer Number Three

Because Batman makes us drool. Summer can’t get here faster.

— Dan

Well, you guys did it. You helped Daniel Young Skateboards raise his $35,000 ($43,000 Total) for a commercial grade laser engraver. You launched his business to the next level, and lots of you are getting some super quality Daniel Young Skateboards gear in return. 

You have to send me some pics once you start getting everything in the mail.  

Thanks to everybody that supported, backed, or helped spread the word. There is no way this would have happened without all of you.

Thanks guys,

— Dan (Zelikman not Young)

The Making of a Kickstarter Campaign, Daniel Young Skateboards

Kickstarter is a favorite site of mine and I’ve had the privilege of backing a couple of projects that eventually got funded. If you haven’t heard of Kickstarter before, it’s a site that helps people crowd-fund their films, books or any other creative product that they need help getting off the ground. Recently, screen2play partnered with Mark, Tiffany and Mario Quezada to help Daniel Young Skateboards take his passion to the next level.

Daniel was born and raised in Hawaii and grew up learning the wood-working craft from his parents during the summer. Daniel’s parents both design and build beautiful custom furniture in their Robb Young’s Fine Woodworking shop. Daniel loved wood-working, but his passion quickly lead him to designing various weapons (what boy wouldn’t?) and eventually his own line of skateboards. 

Three weeks ago, Daniel launched his campaign (photos) on Kickstarter to turn his hobby into a real business. He is currently at 62% of his goal of $35,000 for a new commercial grade laser engraver. You can watch his story in the video below, and check out some of the behind the scenes, well, below that.

If you like what you see, please become a backer and share our project with your friends! As most of you know, with Kickstarter, it’s all or nothing. So if we don’t hit $35,000 in nine days, nobody gets the cool products Daniel designed just for this campaign. So please back, and share often—mahalo!
 

A couple of questions answered by Mark and Mario:

What did you shoot with? 

We used two Nikon D7000’s with shotgun microphones (Rodes) and eyecups (Zacuto Z-finder Pros). We also used a 24-70mm telephoto lens, a 35mm portrait lens and a 10.5mm fisheye lens. The smaller camera was a Sony NEX 5 with a 16mm lens. We also used a couple of GoPro Hero 2’s. They all shoot in HD.

How did you make the “iPros” (the self made GoPro like cameras)? 

Well, the two bigger cameras were pretty standard setups: lens, camera body, eyepiece and then usually they were sitting on a tripod. The Sony was mainly just sort of jimmy-rigged onto things with clamps so that we could get some unique, closeup board-making shots. A lot of the time we would clamp it to boards or tools Dan was working with so that we could get the shot from that perspective. We wanted some of the video to show the board-making from the perspective of the board itself, to show how much attention to detail it takes. We didn’t always have GoPro’s handy, so we improvised.  

Mario lines up another shot. 

A custom GoPro like camera made by Mark to get those up close shots of Daniel’s handy work. 

The result.

We wanted to get up close and personal with Daniel, to show the amazing amount of detail he puts into his boards. 

Working the close-up. 

The video’s chief designers and film directors, Mario and Mark Quezada. No relation. Kidding.

The Vermont House – New Years 2012

A few friends got together at New Years of this year. They celebrated just that—getting together. Here’s to getting together more often, with the people that matter the most. 

Music by Fun, “We Are Young” (Featuring Janelle Monae).

The film is prettier when the HD button is highlighted in red on the lower right. :)

— Dan

Directed by Dan Zelikman

Producer Ted Hope Tweets 24 Tips for Independent Filmmakers

24 tweeted tips for filmmakers from producer, @TedHope:

1. Set the agenda.
2. Beware of their unexpressed agenda.
3. Use passion to open doors.
4. Find your community and activate.
5. Create tools now for use later.
6. Be honest in your communication.
7. Walk on a tightrope with conviction.
8. Be strategic.
9. Don’t ask for permission.
10. Embrace the fullest definition of cinema.
11. Help people envision themselves as a force of change.
12. Know the someone you make the movie for.
13. Find a way or make one.
14. Let the audience ripple wider.
15. Create atmosphere of inevitability.
16. Must have great intention.
17. Be authentic to yourself.
18. Be distinct in the marketplace.
19. Make sure you have friends to support you emotionally.
20. Look beyond the feature film form.
21. Support each other.
22. Do your research.
23. Build a coalition.
24. Establish your brand (what makes you unique). 

Thanks to NoFilmSchool for the full post.