Di-Fi [COMPLETED]

by **ntbullock** » October 2nd, 2006, 10:09 pm

This project looks like it's going to happen, so I'm starting a project journal. I hope to have this released by Halloween, so it'll be a quick and dirty shoot. Those that are going to be involved are buzzing a little about it, so hopefully that excitement will transfer.

This is going to be a satirical horror trailer. I've been wanting to do one for quite a while, but nothing struck me. Anthony Washington, who has co-written it with me, got the ball rolling by watching a lot of recent ridiculous horror films. I've seen just enough of them to hate them and make fun of them.

Anthony and I sat down and scratched out some ideas last week sometime. Last night we fixed it up a bit and sent it to some SP.com peeps. We should start shooting very soon. As usual I'll try and keep up with the journal, so stay tuned...

Here's a quick mock-up that I created to get the SP crew "tickled." It won't be used for any final material.

by **ntbullock** » October 6th, 2006, 1:21 am

These past few days have been spent putting some finishing touches on the script. There were a few elements that needed to be solidified before moving forward. Anthony and I have been getting a few props together. The shoot won't require too much.

We should start shooting some of the simpler shots today. There's a definite shoot we're going to have to travel for in the middle of the month, and we'll be able to knock out a good chunk then.

I've been assigning dialogue and trying to keep everybody on the same page. It's a loose shoot, but there has to be some level of planning. Production here we come...

by **ntbullock** » October 7th, 2006, 4:27 am

Today [actually yesterday now] marked the first day of principle photography. Anthony and I shot a few scenes, and I've already got about a minute of rough footage on the edit. We're going to shoot another small scene in the early morn before he has to go out of town for a couple days. I'm going to try and organize some other shoots while he's gone.

I also started working on the music today. I've never tried creating horror music before, but it's fun. I'm not sure if we're going to use any pre-existing music or not on this project. I'm going to try for not. Scott may be helping with some music. We'll see how this aspect of the production goes.

Overall, I am pleased with what the first day of shooting got us. I feel that shortly after the 15th we'll have most everything. A lot got done today. On to the next...

by **ntbullock** » October 8th, 2006, 1:56 pm

Ant and I got together yesterday morning and shot another scene. Last night I shot the small amount of Corey I needed. Today I'm cleaning a few things up and I might start to grade the footage I've got. Here are some untouched grabs:

by **ntbullock** » October 9th, 2006, 3:09 am

I graded the footage I've got and fixed some audio issues. I did a little graphics work today, as well. Tonight Corey, Eric, and I played around with a piece of music for a few hours. It was fun. I'll probably be able to use it.

Anthony will be back in town tomorrow afternoon, and we may get some shooting done or at least take some pics for the official poster.

by **ntbullock** » October 10th, 2006, 1:20 am

We took some pics this afternoon for the official poster and shot a couple more scenes. I chose my picks from the shoot and graded the footage already. I'm trying to schedule shoots for this week and prepare for the "big" shoot in Baton Rouge Sunday. That day we'll have 8 or 9 people working. It should be fun.

by **ntbullock** » October 10th, 2006, 7:22 pm

Today I've been scheduling small shoots for the rest of the week and doing a bit of organizing/planning. Even on a VERY simple shoot as this it still requires planning.

I worked on the official poster off and on most of the day. It wasn't coming together for the longest. It's looking better now. On to more important things for now...

by **ntbullock** » October 11th, 2006, 1:22 pm

I've finished the poster for now, and I've put it up on the moviepage as a downloadable desktop. [edit: I created a second poster]

Today I'm going to try and get a start on the ending logo shot.

by **ntbullock** » October 11th, 2006, 11:52 pm

I got that start on the ending logo this afternoon. I also shot Brooke tonight. It was a really quick shoot, and we walked away with her two small lines of dialogue. She'd never done anything like this before so it took a bit of coaxing.

Tomorrow evening should be interesting because we're shooting a small scene at an open business.

by **ntbullock** » October 13th, 2006, 2:00 am

So Anthony and I shot Jamison's scene up at Good Karma Cafe during business hours. Noise wasn't too much of a problem - minimal. We got the scene, and it only took about an hour. Ant and I also got three other small shots after the GK shoot. I captured all the footage, and we already chose our picks.

Tomorrow I should be shooting Jason, and hopefully we'll shoot Parmezan's material this weekend. Parm will probably be taking Ben's death shot if he's game.

We've gotten quite a bit done in one week. Sunday will see this shoot almost complete. It'll be one of the quickest shoots I've ever had for this type of project.

by **ntbullock** » October 13th, 2006, 5:03 pm

Shot Jason's quick scene this afternoon. Here are some quick snags of Brooke, Jamison, & Jason. These have some post filters on them:

Early tomorrow afternoon we should be shooting Parm's material and getting one two-shot of me and Ant.

by **ntbullock** » October 15th, 2006, 4:11 am

We got Parm's shots yesterday and one other shot. I've been loading up the car for Sunday's shoot in Baton Rouge, LA. We leave after lunch. It's 4 in the a.m. and I'm beat. Tomorrow will be busy, but I think if everything goes well we'll have 99% of what is needed. We've got a good crew, and I'm sure we'll knock it out. I've been sick for the past few days, so the lack of sleep isn't helping. Going to bed.

by **ntbullock** » October 16th, 2006, 1:45 am

We had a great shoot. We traveled a little over an hour, worked for six hours, and then came home. We're tired, but it was worth it. We had a group of us there: Corey, Anthony, Jared, Scott, Lisa, Clayton, and Meghan.

I don't want to say that principle photography is over yet, but it's pretty close. We might have some pick up shots. I captured everything while I was down there so tomorrow I'll just get straight to work picking shots.

by **ntbullock** » October 17th, 2006, 2:02 am

Today was spent catching up a little on some unrelated freelance work and working on DI-FI. I chose my picks for the footage that was shot in BR and started incorporating it into the timeline. This one is going to need some finessing. It's going to be a trick to get it all flowing, but a challenge is good.

I've been hopping back and forth between Final Cut and ProTools most of the day. Hopefully tomorrow I'll have a good rough cut, and I'll be able to start laying the music under it.

by **ntbullock** » October 17th, 2006, 10:33 pm

I've been switching a lot between GarageBand, ProTools, and Final Cut today. I've worked a good bit on the beginning, which wasn't fully fleshed out in the script. I recorded some more sound effects this afternoon. Ant got off work not too long ago and has been helping out. We're making good progress, and it's coming together. The trailer will end up being about four minutes long. Back to work...

by **ntbullock** » October 18th, 2006, 5:41 pm

I've been slaving away at this one the past couple days. I've also been balancing my freelance work, too. I've got a political commercial shoot that sprung up for EARLY tomorrow morning that's hours away. When it rains - it pours.

Regardless, I've made some good progress on DI-FI. Anthony has been coming over and sitting in with suggestions, too. It helps. He and I created some music the other night and it laid in well. There's one more piece of music that needs to be written, and that'll probably be the hardest to pull off - the end music. The first three and a half minutes are flowing decently at this point.

Very few things are funny to me anymore, so I'll be showing some fresh eyes soon and getting some feedback. Here's a glimpse of some dang ole FoolieGhoulie:

by **ntbullock** » October 21st, 2006, 5:15 am

It's been a few days since I've posted because I had some freelance work I had to take care of. I gotta pay dem bills.

Jared and I have been working together for the past couple days. He's also been helping me edit DI-FI. We got a little done yesterday and a good bit done today. We've been tightening up and getting a few opinions. In the wee hours of the morning I finally started working on the ending. That's mainly what Jared and I worked on. It's coming along well, and it's not exactly what I was expecting to do. Jared and I talked about it and I think it's working. I'm exhausted but satiated. :]

The movie will still weigh in about 4 minutes. There's been more of a democratic process with the SP group on some of the jokes in this one. That's been interesting. I think between all of us that it'll be decently balanced. This one has been tough to post on. It's been a challenge for a few reasons. It's all about learning. Now I need to learn to get some sleep.

by **ntbullock** » October 22nd, 2006, 3:50 am

Today I spent a few hours this afternoon working on the ending and trying to cut a few seconds off. Even 5 seconds can make a difference.

Corey came by tonight and seemed to really like it. He and I worked for a couple hours on a few elements, and he had a few good suggestions. We had fun. It's been great to get everyone's feedback on this one. Like I said, it's been a challenge. The post process is very quickly about to turn into minutia. By Tuesday afternoon I plan to have a 99% version. Jared comes back in Tuesday, and we'll put the cherry on it and get it served up to the masses quickly. We're getting there.

by **ntbullock** » October 24th, 2006, 1:52 am

I've finally got everything wrapped up. I did a lot of minor mixing today and finessing. I'll probably try and get it compressed for the web tomorrow and start getting it out.

This project went VERY quickly and was done in under three weeks. Wow. We kept it as simple as possible, but hardly any shoot is completely simple. This one was a lot of fun and I think it came out well. Hopefully, its release timed near Halloween will yield some interest.

Thanks to all in my inner circle for the feedback and help.

by **ntbullock** » October 24th, 2006, 7:58 pm

Compressing the files.

[sneak] http://sequential.lunarpages.net/DI-FI.wmv

UPDATE: I've never had this much trouble using QuickTime to compress a good looking file at a decent file size. I started on the WMVs and they are turning out fine. This is a first. I'm also having problems tonight uploading any more than 7 megs to the SP server, so I'm using other options.

My contact at ifilm really liked it, and is definitely going to post it.

by **ntbullock** » October 25th, 2006, 6:39 pm

Between freelance work I've been encoding the video. I've got a couple up now.

It's getting close to officially releasing it. It's taken all day to get certain elements together and get these encodes of the video. I even made a "clean" version as per the request of a site that wanted to feature it.

by **ntbullock** » October 27th, 2006, 2:28 pm

It went up on the site. I thought it be interesting to post the rough script, which is just a guideline, here so one could see the differences between what was written and what was in the final video. It's pretty close, but this shows just how rough a shooting script can be:

Di-Fi
" The Web Legend of FoolieGhoulie "
by Anthony Washington & N. T. Bullock

Mullet [NTB] on cell phone: "Naw man, I told you I got that weed wacker off ebay. Hey, hold up. Got a beep. Yeah?"
Ghoul [creepy sounds kick in]: "I'm your worst nightmare."
Mullet: "I told you to quit callin' me, Lo'raine." He clicks back over - sounds stop. "So anyway I... damn hold up." He clicks over - sounds start again. "LO'RAINE, I TOLD YOU!"
Ghoul: "I'm gonna eat you."
Mullet: "Now ya talkin'."
Ghoul: "ALIVE."
Mullet: [beat] "That's different." or "That aint right."

Cuts to Dread [Ant] on a computer. He gets a friend request on myspace from FoolieGhoulie. "Who tha hell?" He clicks add and there's a disturbing noise over his shoulder. He quickly looks around.
[Creepy sounds begin "mmmm-buh-buh-buh-buh-buh"]

Narrator: Behind your screen...

Mullet is on the computer drinking a beer. "Who's FoolieGhoulie?" He takes a sip and gags. [Narrator: ...lurks and evil...] "What tha shit!?! [Narrator: ...so evil...] There's BLOOD in my BEER!" [Narrator: ...that evil just shit its pants.] Shot of blood being poured from a beer can into a sink. It pans up to Mullet's horrified face. "What tha hell's goin' on?"

Dread is running around a corner and falls down with his cell in his hand. His cell phone rings, "Leave me alone!"
Ghoul: "I'm going to lay some panties out for you in hell."
Dread: "WHY!?!?!!"

Crazy random footage - Ghoul crazy laugh

Dread and Mullet seperately running around corridors and finally into one another and fall down - push in on their reactions [cell phones out]

Narrator: From different worlds...

Crazy random footage - Ghoul: "You think this is coincidence?"
Both of their phones ring at the same time

Character [Jason] sitting in front of an empty fridge with the door open, "He'll come for both of you and you'll die." [crazy smirk]
reaction shot of dread and mullet or mullet to dread, "Why's he in the fridge?"

Character [Jamison]: "It's web legend. His handle was FoolieGhoulie. He was a
genuis computer hacker who mysteriously died on the internet somehow."
Mullet: Skeptical, "He died on the internet?"
Dread: "I think I believe him."
Mullet: "You would!"

Riding in a car -
Mullet: "I DON'T LIKE YOU!"
Dread: "I DON'T LIKE YOU EITHER!"
Mullet: "BUT if we're gonna survive we're gonna half to stick together for some reason!"

Narrator: An epidemic...

Guy1[Clayton] talking to Dread and Mullet, "First Foolie adds you as a friend. Then he adds YOUR friends and IT starts."
Mullet: "What starts?"
Guy1: "Crazy shit."
Dread: "What kinda shit?"
Guy1: [whispers] "Crazy."
concerned reaction shot of Dread and Mullet

Dread: "What tha shit we gone do!"
Mullet: "Eh, man, all I know is I got a cell phone, okay? That's all I know." [shakes phone in air]
Dread: "MAN, don't you see what's happenin'!?! My friend Dre... has... a... mouse.. in... his... BRAIN!
Cuts to dead guy [Ben?] at computer with mouse cord coming out of his nose with blood on it
Quick cut of "crazy" whisper from earlier
Mullet: "Oh yeah, well, there was BLOOD in my beer. I finished it anyway, but it was gross!" or "I finished it and got drunk, but it was GROSS!"
Quick cut of "crazy" whisper again

Quick scenes [different characters in different places]:
"Hello? Someone there?"
"Is someone out there?"
"Someone in there?"
Mullet: "Who's there!?!" [crazily annoyed]

Narrator: On the back-roads of the information super highway lives a digital evil...

Girl [Meghan]: "You can block his signal if you use red tape with black polka dots on it."
Quick shot of tape being unrolled / dots drawn
Ghoul [Scott] at computer [silhouetted] video chatting with Dread and Mullet [you see a lot of red tape with dots behind them]: "So, I see you know about the red tape with the black polka dots."
[Dread and Mullet have a strip of red tape across their forehead and and small X of red over their hearts]
Mullet: "Yeah, so stop callin' us ya dumb internet GHOST!"
Dread: "Why you doin' this, FoolieGhoulie!?!"
Ghoul laughs and his phone rings, "I've got to take this call. Scare ya later." The screen goes black
Dread and Mullet react

Quick scenes [different characters in different places] "mmm-buh-buh-buh" sounds:
"What's that noise?"
"Did you hear something?"
"I heard something."
"I can't believe what I'm hearin'!"
?"Crazy" whisper shot from earlier?

For end characters are dirty and bloodied:
Character [Jared]: "It's that damn 802.11g bluetooth wireless. He can get us anywhere." [flat delivery]
Dread: "Man, why can't we just trash our phones and be done with it?"
Mullet: "What, and walk away from technology?" or "What and let him win!?!" "Naw, we're fightin' back."

Di-Fi logo
Tagline: "Disconnect or DI-FIghting"

TEXT REVIEWS:
"I jumped once." SOUTHERN LIVING magazine
"Mmm Hmm... kinda scary." TIME magazine
"Yeah... alright." EBONY magazine
"We like tits." HUSTLER magazine

Di-Fi [COMPLETED]

Di-Fi [COMPLETED]

Who is online