"The Alvarez twins are back and expanding their empire. No one is safe.
Meet Sister Sandy Bush full time nun, part time vigilante. She and her sisters keep the streets clean of criminal scum.
The deros and bums of the cross are her first priority but when trouble comes knocking they're...
NUNS WITH GUNS"
Some of you may find this week's POW a tad distasteful, but you know what? It's suppose to be. 'Nuns with Guns' trailer is of the 'grindhouse' genre which includes films that intend to exploit and be gruesome and crude and gross and offensive, but in a tongue-in-cheek kind of way. So if that's not your cuppa tea I advise you to ... Turn Back Now!
In the project intro, creator PJ Collins explains that 'Nuns with Guns' is "A 'grindhouse' fake trailer. Planned over a few days, shot over a weekend, edited over three evenings after work. I used Celtx in a very basic way for this as it didn't need huge amounts of planning. Thought people might be interested in the notes I made with the actors to compare with the finished work."
The 'shoot first, plan later' approach was one of the things that attracted us to this project because it illustrates one of the many ways you can tackle the making of a film, especially when on a limited budget. I'm sure there are countless arguments as to what 'the best' approach actually is, but suffice it to say, it doesn't ALWAYS have to start with the script. Some may start with the storyboard, or develop their characters or scenes first, while others like PJ grab the camera and shoot, then build the story around what they've captured. Doing it this way can be alot of fun too, as it leaves more room for your actors to improvise and allows for that wonderful spontaneity factor to creep in and potentially yield results that are far more effective than lines from a script.
And after watching this trailer it certainly appears that PJ and his talented crew from Sydney, AUS did indeed, have some fun along the way. For the who's and how's of what they did, what they do, and what they're planning to do, read on for details from the creator himself:
"I'm PJ Collins, based in Coogee, Sydney, Australia and run Lostsheep Productions. I post my film experiments to www.lostsheep.com. Visual Storytelling is a passion. Coming up with an idea and making it a reality is very satisfying. I make these shorts in my spare time with a budget that usually doesn't exceed $100, including feeding everyone. My title on these productions is generally DirWriEdProd. This bit of fun was inspired by Kino Sydney, to make a film in 4 weeks.
To me, the most important part of filmmaking is enjoying the process and making sure everyone else does too - especially when people are giving up their time for free. Without that you will either stop creating or gain the reputation of an ogre no-one wants to work with. It is usual evident in the final product when people are getting on and working together, whatever the story.
The big plans this year are to make a motorcycle safety film for the Motorcycle Council of NSW, a short film for Tropfest, and complete pre-production on an ultra-low budget feature (50K), with shooting to begin early 2009. We're on course!
Celtx is the writing tool I'm using for all of these. I find Celtx incredibly stable and intuitive. Came across it out of the blue a while ago but didn't try it until it was recommended to me by Mike Jones at the VectorLab/Powerhouse Museum in Sydney. Celtx was used in a very basic way for this project due to a 4 week turnaround from beer garden concept to the finished product you see now. However my next project post will be a properly developed Celtx example. Anyways, enjoy! " - PJ
We sure like your philosophy PJ.... And your 'beer garden concept'!
Thanks for keeping us entertained.
Cheers!
Sheila and The C-Team
Over the weekend we received a courtesy email from Charles Stewart Jr. and Kelly Neilon telling us they had just featured Celtx in the Fresh Finds segment of Episode 1 of their brand spank'n new video podcast show, INDIE PRODUCTION SOURCE. How cool is that?! The guys say the show will focus on independent video production in which they plan to showcase filmmaker interviews, product plugs and video technology news.
