KGB Productions

My film " Deadly Obsessions " is now on YouTube.  It's for mature audiences, so you'll need to open it in your app because it's age restricted.  I figured I put a link here and see if anyone would like to see it.  It's kind of a neo-noir type film.  A lot of the criticism is that it's too talky, but I did try and do a noir type film in the present day.  It's 101 minutes, and if you have time to kill take a look.  It took 5 years to make since I was editing it on film, and I usually got money from working a day job.  Hence the length of the movies completion.  I had some great actors, and you may recognize Rebecca played by Irene Glezos whose been in a number of episodes of Law & Order.  All the actors were great and a big shout out to Karen Stanion , Michelle Verhoeven , and Nick Capous .  Without them the film would not be nearly as good as it turned out to be.  One more add would be to Laundrea Lyn Thomas whose help and dete...

I've been looking at movies, TV shows, and cable series lately.  I've been watching them and have found out that a lot of what I like in these shows are the characters in them.    Of course series shows on TV have a distinct advantage over movies and that is we follow a character or characters through the course of a season.  Movies can only get it right in about two hours and it's all on the director and actor to make sure that the audience follows our protagonist throughout the film.  I'm not going to say one is easier then the other.  There are some series that do it right, and there are some series that fail to illicit our attention.  In movies I've always gone by the rule that if I am not convinced in the first ten minutes of the film that I'm interested in the character or characters I lose my attention to the story.  If I don't believe in a character in a series I change the station, so some series on TV have to meld co...

Deadly Obsessions - Revised Trailer from Karl Bauer on Vimeo . It's been a long time coming, but needed to re-cut my films trailer.  So here it is.  Now I'm satisfied.  More editing to come of various works.  From weddings, to short films, and even some commercials, and old industrials.  Part of the on-line portfolio.

I held auditions 4 months before we started shooting Deadly Obsessions. I had originally wanted to shoot sometime in July, but August wound up as a better month for all of us. Before that I looked through hundreds of head shots that were mailed to me after putting a casting notice in Backstage. I found a rehearsal hall in Manhattan near 23rd street, and that's where I held it. My wife, and my father-in-law Sal went with me, and that day we saw a couple of actors. Phyllis set-up a small spread of bagels, and coffee and we began casting early after 9 AM. I had emailed, and/or sent the actors sides of the script. The sides were of two scenes and I was casting for the four main characters. This scene is of Karen Stanion , and Irene Glezos reading. Karen is playing the part of Rebecca, but in the film she plays Lisa. Michelle Verhoeven eventually played Rebecca, and I'll put that audition up next. Since the scene is long I figured I break it up here. I think through this clip you...

What is he talking about? I guess that's what your saying about now. Actually it was a line from " Independence Day " that Harry Connick Jr . says to Will Smith . Hey since I'm such a cinephile you know a movie quote was the only way I could express myself. Okay buddy I got the line, but what do you mean by it? Simple. I need to make a film. What film?, and what type of film I can only surmise would be a documentary of sorts. Who of you ask? Well I figured I start with my dad. I've been obsessed about his life since he became sick, and then passed away. Dad wasn't the most talkative person around, and he was pretty obstinate, but he was dad and we loved him. So what has this got to do about film making? Dad would say if you're a filmmaker "make me a film". It's that simple, and since my resources are stretched at the moment I figured I better do something that was a bit personal. I have been writing on and off about a man who suffers from Alz...

Always looking to see if there's a better way to distribute ones film I came across CreateSpace . Here you send them a DVD of your film, and upload your cover art, and DVD disk art and they take care of the rest. Now this sounds promising and they have an agreement with Amazon too, so that's an incentive right there, but read the fine print before you sign. CreateSpace has a fixed fee of $4.95 per unit. Then they take 15% of your listed fee. So let's say you're selling a DVD for $14.99. They take $7.19, and you get $7.80. Not bad I guess considering their printing out your movie and doing the shipping. But now if someone buys your movie from the Amazon link Amazon Inc. takes 45% of the list price of your DVD, and there is still the $4.95 fixed price. After the fees you get $3.30 per disk. Talk about the big guy socking it to the little guy. Can someone tell me what's wrong with this picture. I know Amazon is a BIG company, and I know they do lots of bu...

Over at the House next door theres a conversation between Matt Zoller Seitz & Keith Uhlich . Matt is and was the creator of the blog The House Next Door ", which has been a blog of all things related to TV & film. It has many contributors, and it's a blog where you want to go to read some thoughtful reviews & opinions on film & television. It now seems as though Mr. Seitz is headed off to do other things after over 17 years as a journalist. In his conversation which you can hear here Matt and Keith go over their influences and memories of filmmaking as they were growing up. Being I guess around the same age as Mr. Seitz I have almost those same memories. He mentions two films that though aren't significant masterpieces they seemed to have a strong influence in us deciding what we wanted to do or were interested in. The mentioning of the magazine of " Famous Monsters " is also relevant. I wasn't too big of a fan of them, but I had a f...

I've been mulling ideas and writing things down in order to kick start the creative process within me. But the grind does happen and I think I've written about it here. Everyday life seems to grind those processes to nil. But that's an excuse. If you really want something bad enough you'll find the time, and do it. It just takes a bit longer. I've always approached an idea on what type of resources I have on hand. A particular location, an acquaintance of actors, or maybe just a prop. From that I usually start building something resembling a story. The old trick is to keep on writing. I sometimes come across a scene or act that I feel is above me. I write it as if I had no limitations, and only after scale it down if I decide to move on it. Not the best way to work, but we do what we need to do, and if this is how a film gets done then so be it. I've been a member of crews throughout the years that had very little money to work with. A lot of these...

So instead of another review I figured I write about me, and the film, and film production in general. My objective in this blog is to excite myself about film again. In my youth I was a fanatic, but middle age or is it experience has tempered it. I still love the cinema, but I'm not filled with the same vigor as I was. Maybe because priorities change. Yet there is still a part of me that wants to say something important. Maybe not for the general audience, but for the audience of the future who may or may not find some truth in the story I choose to tell. Some may complain about today's state of film production. How competitive it is, and how difficult it is to attract an audience in today’s market. To them I say it is what it is. You can take that attitude and just throw up your hands and say NEVER , or you could embrace the technology of today and run with it. True it is a young persons game, but that's because they grew up in such a rich media centric life. You just ne...

I did this trailer because I wasn't so happy with the first. I digitized the footage from a VHS tape so the quality is so-so, but I liked the way the trailer does flow. If I wanted better looking footage I should go off the DVD, but I'm not sure how to do that or even if I have the proper programs to do so. For the past few days I've tried encoding a video I worked on, so I can fit it on a DVD, but no luck, so it feels like I'm in digital hell. Maybe I just don't have the proper tools, but I've done some shorter projects with success, so this longer program is giving me a headache. If anyone has any suggestions I'm open to them. On the filmmaking front still writing, and experimenting as you can see with DV, and to think I do this on my free time. I must be a sado-masochist! POST SCRIPT: Got the Video to DVD. Seems Adobe Premiere likes DVD+ Not DVD- Premiere encoded and fit the video at the proper resolution, and frame rate. To say the least I'...

Okay so I've been thinking about it more and more, and so why not. I've been saying that this blogs purpose is to reach like minded people like myself. Filmmakers, film enthusiasts, and people who just love the cinema. Call me crazy but the cinema is a passion of mine. Heck I even made a film that's how crazy I am about the cinema. I've learned valuable lessons in what to do and what NOT to do, yet with all its headaches I still want to make more films. I'm finding it frustrating to move on, and do another film. Since this time of year is a time of reflection for most of us I too have also been doing just that. So what am I getting at? Well if you are a reader of this blog I thank-you whole heartily for reading these meanderings of this crazed person. I also want to extend my thanks and give you a chance to see the film that I did. Just send me your mailing address to: kgbproductions AT gmail DOT com. I check on this email every so often, so I'll check it in...