The Amazing Spider-Man 2: Reanimated

*Be advised, this blog is dark and full of spoilers.*

Against my better judgement, I rented this movie on OnDemand last weekend. I wanted to give this movie another chance, just like I did with Spider-Man 3.  And like S-M3, it just reaffirmed my dislike.  Two minutes in all I could think was “oh well, there goes my 5 bucks renting this thing” and “I picked a hell of a week to quit sniffing glue”.

Before I delve too deeply into the many negatives, let me start with what was right about this movie and TASM1 - casting Andrew Garfield as Spider-Man.  

Andrew Garfield has the look**, the wit, and the emotional range to play Peter Parker & Spider-Man.  He's at his best in the full costume taunting bad guys and encouraging the good guys.  His talk with the kid at the end of the movie almost made me forget about the rest of the movie.  Almost.  It did make me forget about emo Peter in S-M3.

The rest of the cast was very good too.  Emma Stone is great in every role she plays. Jamie Foxx did his best Jim Carrey impression at the beginning of the movie, and I enjoyed Dane DeHaan’s version of the Green Goblin.  I even enjoyed Paul Giamatti’s overacting and wacky accent as Rhino.

They nailed casting these main characters, which unfortunately made this movie even more frustrating.  If the casting was as poor as the editing, then Amazing Spidey 2 would be a funny/enjoyable bad movie.  Instead, I’m left with what could have been.

I mentioned editing because I think this movie could be saved, and maybe a fan *coughDanPoolecough* might want to officially take a crack at it one day.  Let see what needs to go.

First, what is this plane crash opening doing in a Spider-Man movie? It’s a thematic foreshadowing of the film we’re about to watch, so get rid of it.  There! I saved us at least 5 minutes of runtime too.  In fact, pretend his parents never existed in this movie.  Cut out the scrapbooking project on his bedroom wall and the trip to the subway.  There goes another 10 minutes. Now we’re closer to a bearable runtime that’s more focused on our hero.

Yeah I know the Parkers had this backstory in one of the comic storylines, but I paid money to see Spider-Man!  I don’t care about his folks, and in fact neither does Peter by the end of the movie. That story arc ended with a whimpering climax before Act 2 was even over.  If I wanted to see a superhero spy movie that’s actually good, I’ll watch The Winter Soldier Again.

Ok now we need a new opening. On that note, riddle me this- how in their right mind did Marc Webb and *shudder* Transformer boys Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman think starting the movie with Peter and Gwen back together was a good thing?  Especially since in their second scene together they’re breaking up again!  It’s complete nonsense!  We just now got semi-accustomed to seeing them together in an incredibly awkward graduation scene, and now they’re split again.

So here’s what we’re doing.  Our new opening shows Spider-Man, not inexplicably skydiving, but modestly perched on top of a building. He’s looking down at Gwen visiting friends at that Korean meatball or whatever-the-hell-it-was place.

Without one line of dialogue we see he still cares for her and is trying to keep his distance while being protective.  Then what happens, he hears the same police call as he did in his existing intro, and he’s off to the races to take down Rhino.  How would this not work?!?  Her phone call and their subsequent meeting later in the movie will be just as random, and we pick up where we left off from TASM1.

Alright, we have a tighter opening, but what about the rest of the movie? I think we can fix it, but we’ll have to completely remove yet another talented actor.  

The whole Harry Osborn illness thing, and needing Peter’s blood, to the recycle bin with you!  Let Harry’s motivation for becoming the Goblin be the fact he just lost Oscorp after his father’s death. Spider-Man foils Harry's plans, with the use a scene or two I’ll pretend were shot, and now Harry wants Spider-Man and Gwen dead.  Chris Cooper is now relieved of his acting duties for this project.  We can probably ditch the whole walk in the park, rock skipping scene too.   Hey, now we might be down to a lean and mean 100 minutes of runtime!

I know this is turning into a reboot of either S-M1 or S-M3, but it’s still better than the existing film.

We can keep Electro’s stuff as is, even his get-out-of-jail-free scene.  Now without his illness, Harry suddenly morphing into Jason Bourne and breaking into Ravencroft to release Electro makes a little more sense.  It’s a simple deal- Electro gets Harry into Oscorp, and Harry gets the Goblin gear.  

The rest of the movie, I think we can keep.  It’s now paced fast enough that we’re more focused on what comes next, as opposed to wondering what happened 3 scenes ago.

What else do you think could be fixed with this movie, if it’s even fixable?  If you’re at the Baltimore Comic Con this Friday, come find us and let us know.  We’ll post a picture from our twitter handle @thephotoneffect so you know who you’re looking for!

**Community actor Donald Glover campaigned for this role and I think he would’ve been great as well.  More on superhero origins and race in a future blog entry.

Real Superheroes Are Everywhere. (More Behind the Scenes)

Since our post from yesterday is becoming popular, here's another behind the scenes story.  This one is from the last day of principal photography in May 2007, and the moral of the story is that there really are people in this world with the superhero mentality.

We were shooting the first chase scene of The Photon Effect where our main characters begin to butt heads, but that gets put on hold so they can save the day.  

They chase a motorcycle riding criminal who steals from another principal character we get to know better later on. It was shot in downtown Baltimore, on a Friday, during the day.  Not exactly a secluded setting.  

The cops never tried stopping us, but I guess they thought we were part of the crew shooting the tv show The Wire a few blocks away.  Thanks big time production!  This was not the only time people from that show helped us out.  More on that in future blogs.

While the cops gave us no trouble, a regular citizen made one take very interesting.

During this shot, the motorcyclist  would steal the woman’s purse, turn the corner, go up an alley, then turn around to reset.  The guy in the car must not have seen what we were up to because when he saw the purse “stolen”, he took off after the bike!  When our rider tried to turn around, the guy blocked him in with his car and yelled “HAND OVER THE PURSE!”  

While our would-be thief was taken aback, our AD Matt Holder was sprinting up the alley frantically screaming “IT’S A MOVIE! IT’S!… A!….MOVIE!!!”  The hero was unconvinced and we had to show him the camera and production truck before he finally stood down!  If we had the time we should’ve interviewed him.  

If you want to hear more stories like this, come hear them in person next week at Baltimore Comic Con 2014  where we'll be roaming the aisles with free DVDs of The Photon Effect!

Da Da Da Da…DaDa DaDa!

Tonight is my fantasy football draft, and in honor of the upcoming football season, here's a rerun of a blog entry I wrote back in 2011.  It details one day of pickup shots that happened to be on opening day of the NFL season.

The ending of the NFL lockout was a huge relief to all the football fans out there, including this one.  Since the league is so rich it almost prints money I knew a deal would get done, but it’s good to know that the season really is around the corner.  During this time, a fan can’t help but think about the beginning of previous seasons, how they felt about their team at that time, and how that team changes during each season.

The most memorable opening game for me was for the 2008 Baltimore Ravens.  I’ll always remember it because it’s the only opening game I haven’t watched.  Why didn’t I watch? It was because we were shooting outdoor footage for TPE, which A.) happened to be so close to M&T Bank Stadium we could hear the crowd and 2.) we had our one brush with Maryland law enforcement.

The shooting schedule for the day was in parallel to Derek Powers’ evolution from “guy who can’t control his super speed” to honest to goodness superhero.  We also got bolder in our selection of roads we used for shots- starting off on small side streets, then a four lane road passing the Baltimore Sun warehouse, and finally darting through traffic on Interstate I-95.  In that scene, Derek/Photon is chasing the motorcyclist who has been his crime fighting target in acts one and two.  Mr. Cyclist has pissed off enough people to the point where the police are chasing him as well.

That’s how Dan wrote it in the script, but we didn’t have the money for fake police cars so we were resigned to selling the police action with sound effects.  However, through either a coincidence or fate intervening, when we started shooting a real police car happened to be in the passing lane of 95!  I’ve never seen a police car with that jurisdiction emblem before, so I’m going to call fate on that one.  So when shooting our motorcycle rider we widened out the angle a smidge and presto, our police chase!

That was our last road shot for the day, so we headed over to a side road, parked, and patted each other on the back for a job well done.  Little did we know, but that cop of unknown origin must’ve gotten in touch with the Maryland Transportation Authority Police, who sniffed us out like a bloodhound.  I was fearing the worst, that he was going to throw us in jail and take the camera setup we had latched in the bed of the pickup truck. Thankfully my worry wort tendencies proved untrue, as the officer told us to film what we wanted on the side streets, but stay off the interstate. Since we just finished, no problem there!

Back To School!

I hated school growing up.  

I hated getting up early.

I hated walking to school.

I hated writing the term papers.  

And once I was done, I was convinced I'd never go back.  I thought I learned all I could from school, and didn't need any more to succeed in life.   I couldn't have been more wrong.

So after 15 years, the party's over.  I'm going "back to school" starting this week, with an online class from Distilled U .  This is to learn more about marketing via the internet.  I wanted to take this class for the very selfish reason of getting more eyeballs on The Photon Effect webpage, and have those eyeballs convince their owners to buy the movie. 

And as a benefit to current and prospective filmmakers, I'll give reviews of the class to see how relevant it may be to film marketing.

Baltimore Comic Con 2014

I will still be taking a break to attend the Baltimore Comic Con on Friday, September 5th.  Remember, your money is no good to us there.  If you find me or Dan The Man in the flesh at the Con, you're getting a free The Photon Effect DVD.  All we'll ask is if you choose to join our mailing list with your email address. 

Ok enough slacking off, time to study!

Random Movie Thoughts

Here's a list of random movie, superhero, and filmmaking things I've been thinking about lately.  I might write full blogs on these in the future, and maybe not.

Indie filmmaking is becoming more and more like a regular business.  This is actually a good thing.  

I have no desire whatsoever to watch "Boyhood".  If I want to see child, pre adolescent, and teenage angst, I'll visit my cousins, nieces, and nephews.

DC should make the next Green Lantern movie with John Stewart, not Hal Jordan (and definitely not Ryan Reynolds again).

Don't post your indiegogo/kickstarter campaigns in your local filmmaking Facebook page.  Everybody else there is trying to get their own project off the ground. Figure out who your audience is and get them to donate. 

After a second viewing, I still think Guardians of the Galaxy is the best Marvel movie yet.

What crazy stunt is Tom Cruise going to pull off in Mission Impossible 5?  My money's on parachuting out of a space shuttle.

Overheard shots of someone screaming has become unintentionally funny to me (see X-Men Origins:  Wolverine).

A good movie with no marketing will never be as successful as a bad movie with lots of marketing.

Due to Robin Williams' passing, "Hook" will be included in my personal 25 days of Christmas movie rotation.

I watched Watchmen again last week.  Making Dr. Manhattan the "enemy" is 10x better than the monster in the book.  

I'm really looking forward to Dead Snow 2

As Above, So Below?  Not so much.   Found footage movies need to die a quick, but painful death.

If you have to "settle" for a location that wasn't part of your vision, don't sweat it.  Do a rewrite that makes the story sync with the new setting.

The Expendables 3 really shot itself in the foot by being PG-13.  It's the biggest reason I haven't watched it yet.

When is Neill Blomkamp going to make District 10?

I'm still nervous about Age of Ultron.  

I see more actors in commercials than ever before.  The reason?  In my opinion, youtube. Back in the 80's, actors would get millions acting in stupid commercials in Asia.  It wouldn't hurt their image here since no one could see them.  Not anymore.  Might as well avoid the long plane ride and get the easy check here in the states.

Don't pitch your courtroom drama to a small time production company that makes action and sci fi movies.  We have different audiences.

Do offer to help other filmmakers with their projects, no matter the genre.  The good ones return the favor.

I wonder what details Agents of Shield will "borrow" from The Photon Effect this season?  

If A Movie Is Made And No One Knows About It, Is It Any Good?

One of my old hobbies was to browse the selection at the local video store.  Most of the time I'd run to the back and see if at least one copy of the new release I wanted was out.  When none were available, which happened a lot, it was the perfect time to look around for something a little different.  

It was during these times that I found new personal favorites such as My Name Is Bruce and Green Street Hooligans .   Sure I found a lemon or two (ok maybe more than that), but that risk was part of the fun. 

Nowadays, we really don't have that experience anymore. Physically touching the art and reading the paper cover of that unknown movie is gone.  Walmart usually just has the big hit movies, so there's no new discovery there.  You can still do it at genre conventions, but those are at best few and far between. At worst, there aren't any near where you live.

That leaves us with the internet, where that tactile connection is long gone.  With the loss of touch, I've lost that sense of adventure.  I'm much less inclined to take a gamble on a movie I haven't heard of, and will only do so if it's gotten more peer reviews than a heart disease study endorsed by the American Medical Association. 

What doesn't help is the amount of content out there.  It's ridiculous!  It's virtually walking into a video store the size of an entire city.  I always have that feeling where if I pick a movie with no reviews and that no one talks about, I might miss out on one that's better.

So what must they do…what must we promoting Photon do…to get people to take a chance on our movie?  From what I've been reading, the consensus is to just be available online.  Pump out social media content like crazy and always let fans know what you're up to. 

We haven't been great at this in the past, but we changing our tune.  And frankly, we're seeing too many movies that outright suck get more attention.  So we have to do it. 

Oh, and for those that want that experience of reading the cover of  The Photon Effect in person, I'll be at the Baltimore Comic Con on Friday Sept 5th with copies to give away!  To get a free copy though, you're going to need 2 things.  Your email address so we can keep you up to date on our webisodes.  Don't worry, we won't flood your inbox or sell your address. You'll also need the code word.  Keep tuning in to our Facebook page and twitter handle @thephotoneffect to get the code word!

The Photon Effect Webisodes: Meeting Minutes Debrief #1

It's tough for DP and I to get together and have face to face meetings.  Between day jobs and family obligations, we both just run out of time most days.  BUT, when we do have face time, you're getting an inside scoop on what we talk about.

The Story

First, there's going to be a slight tweaking of our storyline.  The ideas we came up with for episodes are great and we're going to use them, but the timeline will be backed up a tad.  

Instead of Photon being on top of the world with everyone loving him, we're starting in a time where he's not doing so hot.  To get his mojo back, he needs to rebuild his business and relationships with his friends.  And stopping a criminal or two won't hurt either.  

The Props

We're in contact with a couple very talented artists to help us out with the construction of Photon's helmet and gloves.  They might not be ready for the first webisode, but Photon will finally be fully geared up, fulfilling Dan's vision of the character.

The Website

Our website thephotoneffect.com is getting migrated from html to Word Press.  This will make it easier for us to update it with, you know, promotions for free stuff!  If you have any ideas for other stuff we should have on the site, now's the perfect time to let us know!

Filmmaking Tip - Pick The Best Crew You Can

Hey everyone,

My blog entry for today was originally published on filmmakingstuff.com .  Check it out!

Pick The Right Friends For Your Movie Crew

Filmmaking Tip- Budget Your Time

Thanks again for checking out the blog!  

To help out the prospective filmmakers out there,
I'm going to share some tips and tricks I've discovered
while promoting The Photon Effect and developing
our upcoming webisodes. If you have any questions about 
marketing your project, let me know in the comments.  

When inspiration strikes, it's always easy to spend time
creating content or interacting with fans.  One problem
I've found is, how much time should I spend coming 
up with new webisode ideas?  How much time should
I spend writing webisodes?  How much time should I spend 
talking to you about the upcoming webisodes?

Fortunately I just read an article on LinkedIn that's
a big help.

The 60:30:10 Rule

Author Jeremy Waite explains the principles behind
the rule and how different businesses and people
have successfully used it.   Two of the best examples
are Steve Jobs' announcement for the iPhone and Rovio
releasing that somewhat successful Angry Birds franchise.
Give that a read in a new browser window and come on back.
I'll wait.

*Playing Angry Birds on my iPhone.  This leaning tower of Pisa level is too easy.*

Welcome back!

So, how can we apply this to our filmmaking project?  

Like this:

Spend 10% of our time thinking up with 
new film/tv show/webisode content

Spend 30% of our time creating that content, 
be it writing, shooting, and/or editing

Spend 60% of our time talking to you guys about
the content, seeing how much you liked it or 
what you want us to make next.

This can also apply to money.  Over half your budget seems
like a lot for getting the word out about your movie.  But hey,
it doesn't matter how awesome it is. If no one knows about it,
they're not going to watch.


Written by Douglas S. Adams, producer of The Photon Effect

Guardians of the Galaxy: Best Marvel Movie Yet

So far, all of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) movies have had at least one positive trait that immediately comes to mind. Iron Man has the over-the-top charismatic, quick witted lead. Thor and Captain America can both take a break from saving the universe for a comedic break or two. The Avengers were at their heroic best when they overcome their differences and work together. And Hulk? Well, nevermind.

Marvel studios and director James Gunn have taken all of these high points, fit them together perfectly, and added a few more in Guardians of the Galaxy. While a few several more viewings will need to confirm it, right now this movie is up there with Star Wars as a peronal all time favorite.

Some filmmakers try to fit their movies into different genres, and ultimately don't fit in any. Their movie isn't funny enough to be a comedy, not dramatic enough to be a drama, and not actiony enough to be action. They end up just being...there. James Gunn doesn't have that problem. Like he did with "Super", James made a movie that's a hysterical comedy, a thrilling action movie, and a heartwarming drama all rolled into one.

Save for one or two scenes that were a few beats slow for my taste, the pacing was perfect. What was even better were all the little comedic setups and payoffs. They took a funny joke, then waited awhile, put a little twist on it, and told it again for an even bigger laugh. There was even a dramatic setup, a scene where I was left scratching my head a bit. Then when the payoff happened, and subsequent exposition, I was completely taken off guard. For the football fans out there, a perfect comparison would be that they knew how to use short running plays to set up the 50 yard bomb for a touchdown.

Personally I think a younger Nathan Fillion would've been a slightly better fit for the serious side of Peter Quill, Christ Pratt still does a remarkable job. Zoe Saldana and Dave Bautista had their moments, but Bradley Copper's voice and the animators who created Rocket stole the show. And Groot was Vin Diesel's best work since Iron Giant!

While thinking about this film, it makes me a bit sad about the upcoming Ant Man project. Edgar Wright is right there with James Gunn in terms of talent and style, so I fear I'll be comparing Ant Man to a version of the movie that doesn't exist. Oh well, if that isn't a first world problem I don't know what is.

Even though there's a couple scenes for more mature audiences, I highly recommend taking kids to see this movie. For people in my age range, we had Star Wars. Guardians of the Galaxy can be that experience for the kids today.


Written by Douglas S. Adams, producer of The Photon Effect

Might "The Avengers: Age of Ultron" End Up Being Crap?

Since I didn't feel like getting in line for Hall H at 1 in the morning last Saturday, I didn't get in and I'm not privy to any of the footage released at Marvel's Comic Con panel.  This is only based off the few pictures and plot points released on the Avengers: Age of Ultron imdb page.  If I'm clearly incorrect about something, please speak up!

Gotta say,  I'm concerned we might have a "Hangover Part II" situation on our hands.  Based on the images I'm seeing (more in a sec), the film looks like it might be reusing the same plot points as the original.  The only difference this time being there's even more heroes in it, potentially making the inevitable 3rd act battle bloated beyond excess.  If this keeps going, by the 3rd Avengers movie they might be out of Galaxies/Dimensions/Universes to blow up.  Sometimes a rehash of the old movie can be fun, but not in this universe.  At least not yet! 

Exhibit A: The Poster Unveiled at Comic Con  

Really, another horde for our heroes to battle?  I mean, it's fun to have A sequence where the Avengers smack down common henchmen, but where's the "boss" type characters?  The Leviathans in the first one don't count - once Cap wrapped his mind around the scenario and gave everyone orders, those flying lizards got taken out as easily as the rest of the Chitauri.   Leave those minions to either the military, the new S.H.I.E.L.D., or Asgardian soldiers, and let our heroes stick to foes more on their level.  One of the bright moments of Thor: Dark World was Loki and Thor having to sort of work together in taking out the Kursed.  Who's that going to be in this movie with 5 times the heroes?


Exhibit B: Hulk Vs. Hulkbuster Image

All I saw there is Hulkbuster taking Thor's place in a 2nd act conflict amongst the team.  How's Hulk going to unintentionally get angry this time, another infinity stone just happens to fall into their lap again? Come on, pick another avenger to cause the internal conflict.  

Still Optimistic

It kills me to write this stuff, and I want nothing more than to be wrong.  Maybe the horde battle is somewhere in the second act.  Maybe the Hulk vs Hulkbuster scene is right at the beginning - another training exercise if you will.  These were just the first thoughts running through my head after seeing the pictures.  Instead of a jaw drop, I winced.

Hopefully an after-credits scene in Guardians of the Galaxy will put my mind at ease.  Can't wait for tomorrow night!


Written by Douglas S. Adams, producer of The Photon Effect

The Photon Effect, A Web Series

It's been a while, ok a long while since we've updated the blog.  It's been so long we even forgot the login credentials!  But to everyone who has kept the faith and not given up on us, you WILL be rewarded with some hot, fresh, tasty content.  And it won't just be some blog updates. That's right, we're taking about a web series featuring Photon!    Here's a summary.


With RCI a smoldering pile of rubble, and The Black Hole in Parts  Dimension Unknown, Photon starts cracking down on crime in his hometown of Baltimore.  He's also keeping up with his day job with Powers Towers, now the biggest antenna service company in the region.     He even shacked up with Kelly Hammond, leaving his bachelor days behind.

Everything seems to be breaking Photon's way, right?  It is, for now (because how boring would that web series be).

With fewer and fewer crises to take advantage of, the Baltimore government and police force aren't too happy with Photon on the streets.  Government leaders work with a local corporate CEO to form a task force to capture Photon, and coincidentally take all of Kelly's Biolabs research for their personal gain.  Photon must battle these new enemies, and some old ones, to save himself and his friends.   





So that's what we've been up to.  On the blog we'll also have some random updates, including tips for filmmakers and a movie review or two.  Guardians of the Galaxy is definitely getting one!  So stay tuned and if there's anything you want to know about The Photon Effect, the new series, or indie filmmaking in general, let us know!


Oh, and just in case you haven't already…….


Buy the DVD!


Rent or buy the download!

Written by Douglas S. Adams, producer of The Photon Effect

Conventions 'n Such

I met Spider-man creator Stan Lee for the first time at a comic book convention in 1992 here in Baltimore.  I told him I was working on a live action Spider-man video which I hoped would impress him and get me some kind of job on the Hollywood version.

He was impressed with just the effort, which was pretty cool.  He liked the video, too.  In fact, a lot of people did.  After a few years I learned it was being sold at conventions all over the place by all kinds of people who had nothing to do with making it.

And so I originally attended the San Diego ComicCon in 2000 for the sole purpose of finding and shutting down anyone selling my Spider-man video.  And yes, I did remove a few copies from vendors, but there were so many other highlights and networking opportunities I decided I had to return every year.

While San Diego is by far the biggest, its success has spawned an interest and growth in comic book and pop culture conventions all over the country.  When “Otakon” rolled into Baltimore in 2004, I worked the three day event as the booth announcer for a company called VIZ Media.

From 2005-2010, my California trips were subsidized by VIZ Media, hiring me to work ComiCon every year.  Actually, the first two years with them I worked the Animae Expo in Anaheim before heading down to San Diego.

These conventions are incredible and I have had too many great times at them over the past decade to even start to list.  The areas they encompass are huge.  There are booths, tables and displays of all things pop culture related.  Costumed people waltz around in the coolest costumes (some great, some sad).  There are panel discussions and screenings and celebrity appearances.  There is something for nearly everyone to enjoy.

I have been a fan, an audience member, a guest filmmaker, a panelist, and an emcee, but now I have to opportunity to be a legitimate EXHIBITOR.  In 2012, Alpha Dog Productions, LLC intends to rent booth space and devote a 10’ x 10’ area to selling DVDs of The Photon Effect at every major convention possible.

The first one this year is WonderCon.  It's in Anaheim, March 16 - 18.  HOWEVER, we need to sell a few copies online before we can pay for our booth space!  (and by "few" I mean "a few hundred"!!!)

Please spread the word and help us meet out goal.  Get your copy now!

Thanks!

DP

Marketing & Distribution

Check this out:

http://newsblaze.com/story/2011112900070100007.pr/topstory.html

That's a Press Release and it's one of the first steps in self-distribution.  Yes, SELF-distribution.  It's really the only way right now.

Every indie filmmaker's ideal scenario is to produce an awesome movie, get it into film festivals around the world, attend red carpet events and have instant media hype and distributors throwing deals at them.  If I'm ordering off of the Dreams and Goals menu I'm saying, "Yes, I'll have some of that, please."

Well, I don't know who it was that ate it all up, but every time I ask my waiter over the past few years he keeps saying, "Sorry.  We're fresh out."  I'd go to the management but I don't want to make a scene.

Actually, I DO want to make a scene.  I want everyone to know about this movie, whether they buy it or not and whether they enjoy it or not (which they obviously will because it's awesome).  But no one that plays Hollywood Moneyball gives a crap about a movie that cost next to nothing (to them) to make and has no recognizable names in it.  Fair enough, really.

Unless you make a scene.

In my opinion, the only reason low-budget, no name films ever get picked up is because they generate tons of publicity on their own.  Everyone starts talking about it and suddenly there's a demand.  That's when distribution companies begin to have any interest in being the supplier.

A colleague and I were talking about my project during pre-production.  He's older and much wiser and very funny.  We were sharing a laugh about something when he simply commented, "Of course, we all know that making a movie is the easy part.  The real work comes afterward."

I stopped laughing but kept my dumb smile as to not admit confusion and then I was all like, " . . . huh?"

It's true.  Thanks, Barry.  I guess he didn't need to elaborate but it wouldn't have mattered.  I was still sitting at my table of dreams checking out what other people were ordering.

The truth is that it doesn't matter how awesome your movie is if no one ever hears about it.  Alpha Dog Productions, LLC is a business that invested money to make a product and that product needs to be sold to as many customers as it can.  See, that's the business side of the movie business.  And the business of marketing and selling a movie in an era where the market is over-saturated with content everywhere you look - well, it's friggin' tough!

It's going to take money I don't have and resources I'm not familiar with yet.  It's going to take a lot of thought, planning, work and perseverance.  In a way, I'm right back where I started from - looking at my limited choices on the menu and saying, "Fine.  I'll have the usual."

But I plan on making a scene, dammit.

VIVA LA PHOTON!!!!

-DP

The EP Effect

Ladies and gentlemen, our guest blogger for the day is none other than the man responsible for getting this whole machine cranked into life, our Executive Producer, Mr. Doug Adams!  If not for him, I'm certain I'd still be rewriting Business Plans and Investor Prospectus' in search of startup capital.  During production, Doug was the oil that kept the gears running by running all over the state securing whatever we needed and sometimes staying after a shoot to straighten stuff out.

A brother in the trenches as we've been held hostage by many a setback, he has always been obsessed with doing more to get this thing completed.  A blog you say??  No problem!

-DP

How did I get involved with The Photon Effect?  I guess it all started several years before the script was even written, when I witnessed first hand what director Dan Poole was willing to do to shoot a movie.  I've seen his stunts in his Spider-Man fan films, but to be truly appreciated you have to see it in person. 

The in person experience was working on a trailer for his prospective film "Natural Forces".  From what I remember about the story, it shared a couple plot elements with TPE, but had a different theme and characters.  Anyhoo, I went over to his house, not knowing he was shooting this trailer, and he asked me "Hey, wanna film me repelling off a fire escape?"  I told him I would, if only to be around to call 911 if he breaks his neck!  

At the time I was completely ignorant to the filmmaking process, so I thought we'd get there, spend lots of time planning the stunt, shooting one take of it, and heading home.  Yeah, not so much.  He must've repelled off that fire escape a dozen times, which included grabbing a mountain bike with his feet part of the way down, and speeding off on it after hitting the ground.  I was amazed at the consistent effort being put into every single take.  Being around that energy is infectious, and after that experience I knew I wanted to be involved in filmmaking, one way or another.

My desire grew in 2004 when I first saw the spectacle that is Comic Con International in San Diego.  Not only were there people in attendance who were making it in Hollywood, but they all knew Dan and were fans of his films.  Dan was talking about making another fan film, this time featuring The Avengers, but everyone was telling him he should instead make another attempt to film something with original characters.  I thought that was a great idea, and if this new project were to happen I wanted to be a part of it.  

What could I do though?  As I mentioned before I didn't know a lot about filmmaking, and my experience as an actor was very limited.  What I did have was a nice bit of equity in my home, an amount that coincidentally matched the initial budget Dan had in mind for shooting a feature length film.  Now this was obviously a risky venture, but since I knew the kind of following Dan had with his fan films, I considered it a calculated risk.  On top of that, I was becoming very jaded with my previous employer, so the idea of being a part of a startup business was even more appealing.  So one day when I was at Dan's house I told him I wanted to finance his movie, and get started on a script.  

If I remember correctly that was the summer of 2005.  Throughout those 6 years there were more times than I can count where I had doubt that TPE would ever get done.  The biggest doubts were during shooting when it felt like we wouldn't make it through the first weekend, and in post production when we had delays that lasted about a year at a time.   Deep down though I always knew Dan wouldn't let his dream of completing a feature film fail.  And that faith was rewarded late last week when The Photon Effect became available for sale through our website. 

I want to thank every single person that made the movie possible, especially to Dan to worked his fingers to the bone in every single phase of the production.  You did it!

The Dr. Is In

Brian Razzino is one of the saviors of this movie in various ways. First of all, he delivers an outstanding performance as the sinister Dr. Chase. His scenes were so fun to edit that I wish I'd have written an even bigger part for him. Secondly, the man decides to join the cause and invest a significant amount of capital in the project to ensure it's survival. For the past several years he has done everything he can to support this movie and keep me motivated. (YOU ROCK, DOC! THANK YOU!!!)


His latest contribution is this generous offering to our blog:
-DP

To say that I am a fan of Dan Poole is a little like saying “The Godfather is kind of a good movie”. It is woefully inadequate. Dan and I first met, five years ago, over a DVD. He had e-mailed me asking me to audition for his film, “The Photon Effect”. This was one of those out-of-the-blue e-mails from someone I had never met. But, he had sent the script and his enthusiasm, even in writing, was palpable. I couldn’t make the audition in person since I was currently in production for Edward III at the Washington Shakespeare Theatre in DC. So, I video-taped my read and sent it to him overnight mail.

Now, before I get into our actual meeting and work together, let me give some backstory. This was in 2006 and I was just out of theatre school. Two years prior (2004, for you mathematicians ;) I had finally screwed-up enough courage to honor and pursue a long hidden passion (acting and theatre) of mine and make it a reality in my life. This meant placing my other career more in the background (I am also a doctor in clinical psychology, which translates to 9 years in a university, a master’s degree, a doctorate/dissertation, 2 years in post-doctoral training, and several more years doing research, teaching and clinical practice. If you Google me, you’ll find some of my research publications). I had left my faculty position at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, DC. Opened my own practice and was doing what I had always wanted to do, acting on stage. It was a joyous time.

Enter Dan Poole. After receiving the DVD audition, he seemed to really like, he offered me the part of Dr. Robert Chase. One of those juicy roles, playing a criminal mastermind that hijacks science, creating an army of soldiers with lightening-generating capabilities, to serve his own greed and need for power. I mean, really… How’s a boy gonna say “no”?! So like any trained actor, I learned my lines, studied aspects of the psychopathic mind and criminals (Did you know Al Capone was actually beloved by the Cicero (Chicago) community he lived in? I mean the man was considered a saint and a hero!). When I joined the crew for shooting, it was the first time Dan and I had met. Here is this tall, good looking, athletic guy, with the energy of a five year old, and the imagination to match. To him nothing was impossible, everyone was welcome to the party, and ideas, like toys on Christmas morning, were things to be celebrated and enjoyed. He was pretty damn cool. Now, don’t misunderstand, shooting and working on set wasn’t without its hang ups, delays, interruptions, and disappointments. Independent film making, as Dan will happily relay, has a slew of hurdles. People don’t keep their commitments (often they are volunteers, or paid little. So when other higher paying jobs come by, the independent project or favor you are doing a friend takes a back seat), equipment fails, scenes take longer than anticipated, and sometimes you wait the day and your scene is not shot. So patience, flexibility, and good spirits are requirements, not virtues. Given all these, Dan maintained his level of energy, humor and optimism. It was infectious. As an actor, it made a world of difference. There are plenty of directors, on much bigger budgets, that can drag down the whole project with pettiness and ego. Dan floated past these pitfalls with a laser-focus and love for his craft.

Now, at this point, you might also be wondering how I became a primary investor on the Photon Effect project. It’s one thing to be an actor. Commit that time and energy to a project. What made me want to separate myself from so much money and give it to some guy in Baltimore, with an early 1990’s Spiderman film on his resume, making a movie about, of all things, superheros!? You might go on to say “a couple years earlier you were steeped in science, dealing with IMPORTANT questions. Questions that require pragmatics, cold, hard reasoning, and above all else, a sober, buttoned-up approach to life and the world. Superheros!? Independent film making? Making pretend you are an evil genius bent on world domination? Uhm, Dr. Razzino? Maybe you need to check in with a shrink of your own?” And so I will smile, laugh a little to myself and whisper to you: “how many times do you get to live your own dream, and help make someone else’s come true?” This was the case with The Photon Effect and Dan.

The actual moment of truth came on a shoot in Frederick Maryland. Dan and his crew were scaling these electrical towers several hundred feet high. Doug Adams had just arrived and I sat down next to him as I waited for my upcoming scene. I think I was eating some chicken salad Dan’s mom had made for “craft services”. Curious, I asked Doug why he thought The Photon Effect would be well received. As we talked, we watched Dan repel down the tower, climb back up for another shot, repel again, climb, repel, climb. The sun and Maryland landscape behind the tower. Shadows danced on the ground next to us. It was magnificent. The physical feat, the courage, the personal risk he threw himself into. For his dream. It was the most concrete example I had ever come across.

Dan forced me to look at myself that day. Did I believe in myself? My choice to get into acting? The character I portray in the film? The story? How much do I stand behind my own dreams?

The other night I sat down to watch the movie with another friend in its final version. The opening scene had been significantly revamped and is wildly improved from the original. I had chills. To see the feeling confirmed in the eyes of my friend was only topped by his outburst, “God. That was awesome!” After viewing the film in its entirety, seeing the story unfold, revealing its secrets amidst the visceral music, stunning effects, and shocking ending I sat quietly, my mind reeling with delight. It reminded me of my honeymoon, sitting with my new wife, Robin, after a glorious meal, savoring gelato in front of the Trevi Fountain in Rome.

There are times when you just have to put your money where your mouth is. I thought I knew this going into Photon. Dan taught me how much more I had to learn. About perseverance, trusting yourself, believing in your dream.

So I put it to YOU: how many times do you get to live your dream AND help make someone else’s come true? What are you willing to do to make it come true?

- Dr. Brian Razzino

DVD Release

So here we go. After four long years of working and waiting and reworking and waiting even more, it is here. The Photon Effect is on DVD and ready to share with the world and no one has been waiting for this day longer than I have.

It would be mildly entertaining for some and excruciating for me to recount all the ways in which this movie has been held up, so let's just leave it at this: It was a lot of work with very little to work with and every single person that helped out in big ways and small made it what it is. As these blogs continue I may highlight certain areas and contributions with gratitude, but today I will just send out a Photon-familywide, "THANK YOU!!!" to everyone involved in the process.

It's obvious that getting anything done is about having the appropriate resources and most resources are acquired using the almighty dollar bill. Making an independent film sometimes makes me feel like I'm at an intersection with a cardboard sign that reads, "Please help. Trying to follow my dreams". Thankfully there have been several people that have rolled their windows down at the red lights with the means to keep it (and me) going.

Well, I'm still at an intersection only now my sign reads, "Have you seen this movie?"

Some filmmakers get their projects completed and let them live a life of their own. Not me. I'm going to smother this baby with attention and shout from the building tops (and you know I'll climb 'em) until everyone has heard about it. I made this movie because I want everyone to watch it! Of course not everyone will, but to those that have an interest, I am confident that you will not regret giving 93 minutes and $14.99 to the experience.

I remain immensely proud of the script and during production I was convinced I had left most of it on the page. As post production continued, however, I found that there was a lot more than what I thought we'd lost. I am now immensely proud of this film. This movie holds up because of the core drama that drives the characters and the solid visual effects that drive the story.

But don't take my word for it. Get a copy and decide for yourself!

-DP

The Countdown Begins!

T-minus 30 hours and counting until the "World Premiere" of The Photon Effect at The Waterfront Film Festival (http://www.waterfrontfilm.org). I'm sitting at the helm waiting for a large series of effects shots to render, then I have to continue checking the movie for anything left to fix. Everything should be locked, but I thought that before I found this batch unfinished!

The past few days have been non-stop work and almost no sleep. It's bizarre to me that I've been working on this project for over three years and still we're all scrambling to make this festival deadline. I guess if we had until the end of July to complete it - it would take us to the end of July! Alas, our deadline is now and we're making it. While there will be some tweaks left to make after our screenings this week, we do have a solid, fun motion picture to display.

When the final mixing sessions for the audio tracks began last week, it was so intense I almost had to leave the room. I was so overwhelmed with the level and depth of the sounds of the action scenes that I needed to catch my breath! Luckily, Sound Designer Kevin Hill worked in stages and I was able to pace myself as he kept optimizing the "beast of a soundtrack" that it is. Over the weekend Kevin, Sound Designer Jonathan Krintz and I watched the film separately and made notes about what we thought needed attention. We pored over the film scene by scene, tweaking every little thing we could to create the most incredible, Hollywood-caliber sounding movie experience. It absolutely ROCKS!

After exporting the Dolby 5.1 file it was off to Martin Whittier's, where he insisted on one full, albeit rough, pass of color correction. Even though he still had three effects shots to complete before we could call this finished, he focused on the tones, saturation and brightness for HOURS. Martin finished up around 3:30 a.m., sending me home with my color corrected movie and then moving on to his remaining shots before dragging himself to work by 7:00 a.m. What a soldier, huh?! At least I was able to sleep for three hours before jumping back into it. Martin is planning on authoring the Blu Ray DVDs after work!

My day today has been all about the last wave of fine tuning and making sure everything is updated, and finally ready to export to a DVD usable file format. I am surprised and ecstatic that I can say this honestly - the more I watch this movie - the more I like it. I hope a lot of other folks do, too.

Right on Schedule

I bet there's one thing they don't tell you in film school - a filmmaker’s job is never done! Or do they? Couldn't tell you since I never went, but I'm telling you now! There’s always another hurdle to jump. But lo and behold, folks . . . only a few more to go, and The Photon Effect will have made it through post-production! We’re right on schedule to get the FX wrapped up by May 15th, and then it’s back to the studio for final sound design tweaks.
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Of course, while that marks the end of post, it’s really just the beginning in another sense . . . the beginning of the promotion frenzy that we’ll be unleashing. In the coming weeks, we’ll be blanketing the Internet with exciting info about the film. You’ll be able to check out interviews with key players from the film, read regular blogs from me that will take a behind the scenes look at the process (and my journey), and keep updated on the latest goings on as we move through the film festival circuit and beyond. Stat tuned for links to all of the cool places on the Web that you’ll be able to check it all out.
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Now, I’ve got to run to take a look at some more FX shots. I'm sure on the way I'll have to jump over something else . . .....