Making your first movie is a piece of cake, look at BLOOD TIES...

Making your first film is all about convincing yourself you can do it. And you can. Anybody can.

We've grown up on watching TV and movies. Subconsciously we know - more or less - how to construct a scene. A bunch of scenes strung together and suddenly we have a movie. Might be a short. Maybe a feature. Might be fantastic, hinting at abilities previously unknown, certainly unproven before now, or it maybe we grew up watching a lot of really bad movies and worse TV and we get nominated for the worst excuse of a film ever made - and that would be pretty cool too.

Those we recruit and entrap on that first movie project also know how movies work - so they bring a lot to the table. Our enlisted cameramen and our actors, our best attempt at make up and special effects, the music and the sound and the artwork - they are all done by those who at best case have done it before and so know even more than we do, and at worst case have also watched a million shows of every sort. The collective knowledge/skill pool is well on its way, unencumbered by realistic expectations and the dreaded 'in retrospect'. Probably the single hardest thing of all is convincing yourself to just do it. Not a NIKE plug I swear... But the fear of failure stops us time and again.

Just the same - for some of us - delusions of grandeur overwhelm and squash our fears and before you really understand what's going on - you've done it. Made your first film! And when you look back, with all the struggles and the obstacles that stood in your way defeated, the now empty pockets and empty bank accounts and empty friends' favors account, the deep circles under your eyes and the few extra gray hairs - it turns out it really was a piece of cake.

But now... a few pats on the back. A greater standing in the community. A few accolades from the industry. And we either go back to our pre-completion existence or... we're faced with our Second Movie. Fear rears its many faces and the mythic struggle with our personal Hydra starts all over again.

In my own case, even while finishing post on BLOOD TIES, the quirky, international action epic that stretched me in ways sadistic medieval torture masters could not have envisioned, I was able to find brief respite in tackling the short film AM SESSION. Even that delivered 11 minute interlude of digital celluloid took nearly 8 months from start to completion. It can be found playing now on HBO.

It benefited from lesson learned, equipment purchased, and skills honed on BLOOD TIES, and I was able to confidently approach and conquer the directing, the editing, and the musical score.

After all, I had 100 minutes of feature film finished, this would be a piece of cake. And in retrospect it was.

But now... looming over my every conscience thought, the many-headed serpent's poisonous breath warm and fetid across the back of my neck... The Second Movie.

More coming soon...

Film Festival Winners is up at www.festivalwinners.com

Well, after putting aside my final efforts of BLOOD TIES (the special features) for a few days and putting in some time on understanding how this web thing works, I finally have festivalwinners.com up and running.

Actually, its little more than a splash page with links to a suggestion page and some explanation about what it is. What is it? At this stage, I am compiling a book - we'll start with a hundred different film makers who have won various festivals around the world. Most of them probably have never really had a voice before, even though looking at their work, they obviously have a lot of skills and advice they can pass on.

I know that we can always read about the big guys, the Ridleys and Stevens of the film world, but it seems to me that many of the lessons and advice they talk about have little to do with my situation right now.

For now, it's paying the rent (actually in the same month it's due), keeping gas in the car, and the computer up and running while trying figure out how to make the next movies.

So it's back to how do I make the little movies that I can seem like big movies, make them powerful enough to move people, and then what?

So far, I've managed to finish BLOOD TIES -still working on what we hope are the kick-ass extras (http://www.bloodtiesmovie.com/) - the action movie we made on a shoe-string budget in 3 countries and 6 major cities.

Then for the price of a nice meal out for four - my four man crew - producer/friend, best friend, girl friend, and MacGyver film buddy, knocked out the short film AM SESSION (http://www.amsessionwebsite.com/)

BLOOD TIES has done pretty good on the film festival circuit so far - though money has been so tight we've only entered seven. Still, LA's been especially good to us - in four fests there, we've won Action Film of the Year, a Best Director award, a Best Visual Effects award, and Best of the Festival.

AM SESSION was in the very pretigious American Black Film Festival and nominated for the HBO Short Film Award. Didn't win, but they bought us and it plays on HBO Zone later this month and then I guess off on on for the next 2 years.

Seems like most of the friends I've made at these fests have the same issues. They've staked a big chunk of their lives on their films, done really well on the circuit, and no one really knows they or their films exist.

Maybe between us, we'll figure it out. I know we're way ahead of a lot of people, and hopefully we can help others as we move forward.

I know the book (http://www.festivalwinners.com/)is a good idea because like the movies and stories I want to make just so I can watch them, I can't wait to read the book!



Kely McClung