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Let's Make Better Films

The Douchebag Process: A Look Inside

Guest post by “Douchebag” writer/director Drake Doremus.

We actually shot “Douchebag” in two separate sessions over the course of a year and a half. The first time we went out we had a very specific outline from which the actors improvised from and the second time we had a loose script with lines actually written.

The first scene in the film for instance where Sam is laying in bed with Steph was mostly written and shot during the second session when we knew exactly how to set up the film. A lot of the rambling lecture scenes — like the scene on the beach about kites, the credit card fiscal responsibility scene, and the scene about our hands not being designed to tear flesh — were all shot the first time out when we had more character than story.

It wasn’t until after editing the first session’s material that I knew the exact pieces we needed to finish the story. The filmmaking process was very exciting and challenging for me but also very creatively freeing because I could keep writing and coming up with ideas after I’d shot, the film kept evolving that way and there was always a way to make things better. It’s really the only way I would work now I think. I learned so much.

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Let's Make Better Films These Are Those Things

John Berger’s WAYS OF SEEING

I found John Berger’s book and series “Ways Of Seeing” pretty damn mindblowing when I first encountered it back in film school. It changed the way I look at filmmaking or more precisely, image making. Glad to find it on YouTube.

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Let's Make Better Films

A Scene From SUPER

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Let's Make Better Films

Four Reviews of SUPER: “instant cult classic”

“if there’s any early favorite on that list of bidding-war candidates coming out of Toronto. This would probably be the one. ” “Remember that movie Kick-Ass? About that kid and his cohort of ordinary folks who strive to battle crime in bad costumes and without the benefit of superpowers? Yeah, well, you probably won’t after this.”
Movieline

“Super is destined to become a cult classic, this film is pure movie magic, it has everything, gore, comedy, violence, hot ladies, hell of a lot of heart, story and it’s got something to say.” AintItCoolNews

“Chock full of insanely graphic violence, awash in thoroughly un-PC perspectives, and more than willing to keep on punching long after the audience is virtually incredulous, Super is fun and funny, dark and twisted, semi-schizophrenic and certifiably insane. What I liked most was its simple audacity. And Ellen Page.”
Cinematical

“Filmmaker Gunn, who previously spoofed creature features with the well-reviewed but disappointingly performing “Slither,” really goes in for the satirical kill here, with a take-no-prisoners tone — and a generous amount of exaggerated “RoboCob-style” ultra-violence — that deserves to realize its cult calling.”
The Hollywood Reporter

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Let's Make Better Films

A Return To Cool: Anton Corbijn’s THE AMERICAN

Watching my business partner’s production of Anton Corbijn’s THE AMERICAN the other night, I was struck by how few truly cool American films there are.  The American is certainly one, but cool is an aesthetic that few truly dare to tread.  The cool that I refer to, is not something that is just neat or novel.  My cool differs from the way my son uses the word.

Cool is a committed style.  Cool is a discipline.  Cool embraces both content and all the elements of execution.  In a cool movie, everything other than cool is truly secondary, and ideally non-existent.  Cool movies thrive on an existential protagonist.  Cool is about the sustain and not the flash.

What are the cool American films of relatively recent vintage?

  • The American
  • The Limey
  • Stranger Than Paradise
  • Out Of Sight
  • Jackie Brown

This list is far from complete.  What have I forgotten?  Yet, the real question is “why are there so few truly cool films?”.

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Let's Make Better Films

Kodak 1922 Kodachrome Test

The first color film tests — that perhaps ever were — are pretty damn beautiful.

But here they are, 1922, and then how long did it take to make color films the standard?  Sure everything happens sooner these days, but change sure takes awhile, even when the tools already exist.

Back twenty years ago, I was hired several times to write business plans for indie films.  I included a paragraph for the anticipated windfall of profits from VOD.  I see a version in many a plan that I stumble across in the present day.  We can dream, but I don’t think $100K is exactly the windfall I was fantasizing about back in the day….

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Let's Make Better Films

Gunn Was First. I Am 23rd!

Our director broke first with this photo forecasting some of the mayhem that The Crimson Bolt and Boltie will get into later on  in our film SUPER (and as the caps tell you, you pronounce the title LOUD, like at eleven), but hey I am always late to the party.

"Boltie" & "The Crimson Bolt" manufacture mayhem.

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