Set in the post-apocalyptic heartland of the United States, Ashes of Man follows the plight of two
separate characters as they try to survive in the nuclear fallout of World War
III. Without the convenience of modern
technology, government, of even military protection, mankind has dissolved into
a cut-throat race of savages, raiders, murderers, and worse…
Due to its length, Ashes
of Man is divided into three parts.
Here are the links to both the videos, and the blog posts dedicated to
each:
*Due to a major life event occurring sometime in August, I
cannot promise to hold myself to these dates.
I will, however, do my upmost to try.
DIRECTOR’S NOTES
My 12-15 minute movie turned into almost 33 (not including
the outtakes). This is a common
miscalculation of mine. Now, 8 months
later; roughly $415 spent; a speeding ticket; and more man-hours than I can
even guess at, Ashes of Man is
done. I thought I would be able to shoot
some shorts in the interlude between the winter and summer sets. Ha!
Yeah, that didn’t happen.
It has been my goal with each project I undertake to
introduce a new challenge for myself as a film maker to deal with. With Ashes
of Man, there were two.
The first was to make a movie that required a script. This wasn’t the hardest of tasks for me,
having graduated from college with a degree in Creative Writing. It was more of a refresher.
The other challenge was directing - truly directing. Not a one
day event with one or two other people helping with props and assembly. I mean casting according to the script,
picking a crew, working with everyone’s schedule, planning out scenes, blocking
out people movements, location shopping, everything.
I did not comprehend how much I would have to rely on others
until I started planning out days for filming.
The first worry was that I would not be able to find enough people
willing to participate, be it on screen or off.
Later, that worry shifted to whether or not everyone would show up. How do I pull a scene off if so-and-so drops
out?
I am still stunned at how many people came out of the
woodwork; how many people were interested in something as random as filming an
amateur movie; and how committed everyone was who signed on.
During the first few sets I was extremely uncomfortable
wearing the director’s hat. I felt
stupid, and like some sort of poser. It
felt weird to tell someone else what to do.
Due to that, I lacked any form of assertiveness. My directions ended up disguised as requests
and suggestions. Strangely, that doesn’t
go over well.
I found out real quick that people, oddly enough, want to be
told what to do. More often than not,
they want structure and well defined tasks.
Free reign to improvise is an intimidating idea to some people. They want someone to lead the rabble, and
just by showing up each and every person there has, in the back of their minds,
nominated you to be that person.
If you’re not brave enough to take the reins, your crew will
knock you into place, because a director who won’t man up ultimately isn’t
serious enough about the project. If
your nervous and afraid, fake it; that fine, just as long as you’re as
committed about it as they are.
The moment they sign on, it becomes their movie, too. They’re all a part of it, and without them it
wouldn’t exist. As a director, you have
a responsibility to everyone to make something that they can be proud of happen.
~ Jonathan Strong
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