KGB Productions

So what do I want to do? I mean isn’t that the fundamental question that we all ask? I mean really is this a hobby or something I want to pursue in a more professional venue? I’ve asked those questions countless times in my life, and I’ve come away with many different answers to them depending on when I asked them. Before making my film it was all I wanted to do, and then during the making of the film I asked why am I doing this, and then when the film was completed and all the war stories were behind me I suddenly realized I wanted nothing more then to do it again. Talk about schizophrenic behavior there seems to be no emotion that you don’t go through when you're making a film. All those doubts get magnified, and you wonder why do you go through this self-abuse. Could I not be happy with sitting back and watching others tell their story. The simple answer is no; the film bug long ago infected me and the addiction I talk about only grows stronger throughout the years. I can chal...

I was going to write about the process of filmmaking, and how hard it is to get motivated and make a good film, or at least a film that YOUR proud of. But I'll save that for another day. I've been reading up on Kevin Smith, and all the shenanigans that go into marketing a movie. I thought some of this would be of interest to some of you. I'm still a fan of Smith's, but when I hear things like this it only makes me think, and wonder. Follow the links and you decide. In Jim Emerson's blog he goes on to describe on how Mr. Smith watches his reviews, and fights his critics In Movie City News Mr. Smith is interviewed, and it's a frank conversation about his film. At the IFC blog there is a article called: " The art of storming art ", which covers the controversy of critic Joel Siegel storming out very publicly from a screening of " Clerks II ". It's all about the marketing of the film I guess. They say there's no good or bad publicity...

Okay so I said I wasn’t going to review films here because there are a lot better sites that do it, BUT since I’m a fan, and I do have admiration for Kevin Smith I’m going to. I can’t help it I like the guy. “ Clerks II ” is a funny film, and if you’re a fan of the first you’ll like this flick. I know Mr. Smith would like you to believe he’s an acerbic young punk who has a potty like mouth, and that he’s just a plain old sarcastic young man, but I beg to differ. After seeing “ Clerks II ” I believe Smith is a powder puff deep inside. Sure the dialogue is fresh, and full of funny pop culture type jokes, but in the end Smith goes for the schmaltz, and weirdly enough it works here. Smith even gets to say “something” here without hitting the viewer upside the head with his message. Why does “ Clerks ” work? Because you love the characters. Maybe you see someone you know in them, or maybe it’s even yourself. Their anti-authoritarian attitude, and their I don’t give a crap attitude is what e...

A couple writings back I wrote that if you thought getting your first feature off the ground is hard try your second. Of all the things I've learned you would think that maybe I wouldn't want to begin another project, but I'm afraid it doesn't work like that. When I finally finished "Deadly Obsessions" I thought okay it's done. For years I've wanted to do my own feature and it drove me, but it wasn't the idea of making a movie that I obsessed on. No it was of being a filmmaker. The landscape has changed in the coming years, and it's gotten easier for someone to pick up a camera and think of shooting his or her own film. Digital video has leveled the playing field, and there are now tools available for everyone to use for the creation of their feature. I always wonder what Cassavetes would have thought of DV. His filmmaking was raw, and visceral. Cassavetes knew the technical side of filmmaking, and he didn't care. He broke all the rules, an...

The shoot went all in all pretty well. What wasn’t expected was our neighbors giving me grief for shooting. I had gotten permission from my landlady about filming, but next door, and across the street the neighbors seemed upset. Now I didn’t need to get permission from these people, but it may have been a good idea to tell people about the movie. I broke no laws, and was well in my rights, but maybe telling others what was going to happen would have probably saved me a lot of grief. It’s just that one neighbor was a retired police officer, and the other was a city court judge. Both seemed to try and use their connections to shut us down, and yet not everyone was against us. Others were interested in what I was doing, but like the old saying goes it only takes a few bad apples to ruin everything. I even got a call from the film office . They wondered what I was doing, and I told them in essence that you guys knew exactly what I was doing because I went through their office as well as t...

The next step I needed to do after setting up the company and casting the parts for the movie was to set a date to start filming. At first the start date was in July, but after talking with the actors and crew August was a more realistic date. August 5th was the start date. On August 1st I checked the hotel reservation for cast and crew. Now of course had I an assistant that would have been great, but my assistant had a family emergency, and I was down a person, so that meant more work for me. I enlisted my wife for some of the grunt work, but I had to involve myself in readying the accommodations for cast & crew. Not only did my wife do some extra running around but she also acquired food for snacks and lunches for the first two days. All this while still going to her day job. Now as you can see I would have saved some money had I hired actors within the Philadelphia area , but remember this all started with an ad in Backstage . I received a majority of the actor’s headshots from ...

So as you noticed from the ad in Backstage that I put Non-SAG actors. Why you ask? Well it was drilled into me, and I mean drilled into me that on your first movie avoid SAG . There are rules to working with SAG and the pay scale is too much for a first time producer to afford, so one should avoid working with SAG. In short order too many headaches. So what do I go and do, but use SAG actors. First of all three of my actors are SAG actors , so I had to go the SAG route. Personally I had no problem with dealing with them, and if I had to do it again I do the same. The quality of the actors I got were just amazing, and now since making my film SAG has made it more possible for independent producers to use SAG actors . What I had to do first is give SAG some money to insure that I would actually do the film. I got the money back after the production, and working with the SAG office here in Philadelphia was no problem. I even used a payroll company which they recommended which was great....

It all started with a little advertisement in Backsatge . As you can see the ad says for a short film, and for intended purposes I was going to do a short, but after sitting in on Dov Seimens two day lecture called "Film School Crash Course" I thought differently. I had made shorts in school, and I knew how to make them, but a feature, that was the next step. So I tried my hand at creating a script with few locations, and few actors. This was key to my whole strategy in making a feature film I could realistically afford. I had been interested in crime stories, and thought that there would be some interest in my story. After all I was hoping to sell this film, so I was thinking crime drama. I had also been very interested in film-noir films of the 40's & 50's, and these films usually had few characters, and a lot of dialogue. If your in doubt take a look at "Double Indemnity" that film alone is loaded with dialogue. I tried fashioning a script with thos...

Okay it's been a while, so here goes the first installment of the beginning of the birth of my film Deadly Obsessions . Originally entitled "Broken Promises" the movie was written back in 1997, and finalized in 1998. I had started writing a journal of my progress in making the film back in Feb. '98. Till this day I still keep a journal and the one journal has multiplied to 16 journals. One it was to keep my sanity, and another it was to serve as a reminder of what I needed to do. Since I was extremely low budget I myself was responsible for getting things done. This helped and hurt me through the years of getting to the final print of the film. Before venturing into my feature I saw countless indie films both good and bad, and I made mental notes on how I should proceed. Back in 1998 digital video really didn't exsist. It was only AFTER that I shot my film that I the digital revolution started to happen with a vengeance. Shooting on film was my only choice back th...

Okay, so I've been mulling it over and looking around the net reading other film type blogs. I've come to the conclusion that there are a lot better blogs about films, and film reviews then mine, so why in the hell am I doing it? Maybe because I like to give props to certain films that have influenced me, and that I feel are worth mentioning. I'm not the eloquent reviewer of films that I try to be. My film studies grades way back in college can back me up there. I could never fully express or as I said bullshit my way through a review or a critical analysis of a film. I was young and full of myself, and certainly didn't have the patience back then. After all I was in school because I wanted to MAKE films, NOT review them. Of course I learned later that you can't make a GOOD film without appreciating GOOD cinema, and what better way to do that then write about them. After all the New wave started like that, so what do I want to say here? Well it's been my goal...

Okay, so I had the chance to watch this film again over the Memorial day week-end, and realized that I still like this movie a lot. Saturday Night Fever came out in 1977, and it single handedly gave disco a fad that was really on it's way out a reprieve. John Badham the director of the film was once quoted as saying that "we were making a small film about a fad that was slowly dying out", and he was right. Saturday Night Fever was written by Norman Wexler, but was based on an article written in a magazine entitled: "Tribal Rights of the New Saturday Night". The movie has gained legendary status through Travolta's performance on and off the dance floor. To simple write up Saturday Night Fever as just another dance movie would be doing it a big disservice. There is actually a story here, and it's about Travolta's character Tony Manero. Saturday Night Fever is about a young man and his confusion and frustration about living a life he's not happy wi...

Over at filmmaker magazine's blog they had a news idem of Kevin Smith's "Clerks 2" getting a standing ovation at Canne. This made me kind of nostalgic, and so I reviewed "Clerks" ,Smith's debut film again. Why you ask? Well when Clerks was released, and the legend began I was still formulating on how to get a film done myself. I'm a fan of Kevin Smith , and I've seen most of his films. I've laughed at his characters antics, and have been thoroughly been entertained by what I call the Kevin Smith universe. Back in 1994 when Clerks was released I was taken aback by Clerks , and it's funny and comical look at minimum wage workers. I was even more impressed at Smith since he himself lived that life, and knew full well about that world. I was also impressed on the budget and how Smith filmed his debut film. I eventually saw the film three times. Once with my girlfriend, and then twice more by myself. I studied it, and all three times I enjo...

I wanted to write about a special film I have not seen yet, but am interested in seeing. " Four Eyed Monsters " isn't a film about some monster terrorizing the streets of downtown Manhattan, but a love story instead. Arin Crumley & Susan Buice made a film about their relationship, and how they met. I know you're saying not another film of young twenty-something angst. Sure enough there are enough of these films already, but what Arin & Susan are doing is unique. After playing in Slamdance and a couple other festival they have decided to tour with their film to different cities. They themselves are promoting the film through the use of video podcasts. These podcasts are about the making of the movie and in essence a movie unto itself. These podcasts reveals what a independent artist must do to promote his or her own film in today's media frenzy environment. In their latest podcasts entitled simple " 7: give a mouse a cookie " we see the problem on...

Do you remember seeing " Raiders of the Lost Ark " way back in 1981? For me it was a film that galvanized me to want to be a filmmaker. Steven Spielbergs & George Lucas were filmmakers that inspired many young kids to want to become filmmakers, but for three boys living in Mississippi it became a bit of an obsession. These three boys decided to make a shot for shot adaptation of the movie. It took 7 years to complete, and about $5K to finish, but they did it. The $5K is an approximate value of their budget. No detail budget was formed it was pay as they played you could say. The movie the boys made had its local premiere, and then sat on the shelf for several years. It played in some comic conventions, and slowly the video got an underground following through these viewings. Eventually it fell into the hands of Eli Roth who brought it to the attention of Steven Spielberg . Spielberg was impressed, and sent the boys a letter thanking them for their tribute. But the tale ...

I didn't even know it was Jess Franco's birthday until I saw it on Tim Lucas' Video Watchdog blog . Lucas pretty much sums up my feelings about Franco, and his obsession with the cinema. I too didn't think much of the filmmaker until I saw Franco's "VENUS IN FURS". There are several other Franco films that I've liked but their names escape me at the moment. His films are so numerous and have been re-titled, and/or re-edited that it is hard to get an appreciation of his films, but with the advent of DVD a new generation can find out how truly gifted Franco is as a filmmaker. Also we can re-discover his films in a new light as more and more films are un-earthed minus the cuts Franco never intended. Some distributors have even begun to try and re-assemble some of Franco's films as per his original design. Maybe then when more and more audiences have seen his work in it's original cut they will show more of an appreciation to Franco and his work. W...

So today was the day MI:3 came out, and being a fan of the series I went to see it, and I wasn't disappointed. MI:3 is a movie which moves along at the beginning, and doesn't stop till the end. If anything Hollywood is good at it is this. The spectacle. The effects, the stunts, and the sheer non-stop action. Yeah, but is it good? If anything is true it is that story is king. You want to believe in the characters and you want the story to take you to far off places where you've never been, and MI:3 does that. Cruise puts his stamp on it as producer along with Paula Wagner. The film is directed by J.J. Abrams the creator of two TV series "Lost" and "Alias". Abrams does a great job at weaving the action and the story together, and making us care about the characters. In MI:3 the characters are no longer one-dimensional. Their is a story here, and the heart of this story is that it's a love story. It is said that Cruise wanted Abrams to humanize the seri...

Over the week-end I got to see the film "The Notorious Bettie Page" directed by Mary Harron . After the show Ms Harron & her cinematographer Mott Hupfel were introduced to the audience and we were allowed to field questions to both. If the name Mary Harron is unfamiliar to you she also directed the films " I Shot Andy Warhol " & " American Psycho ". The Notorious Bettie Page is about the pin-up model from the fifties who eventually graced the pages of Playboy in 1955. Grechen Moll stars as the title character Bettie Page, and from the first frame of the film you actually believe that Ms Moll is Bettie Page. Ms Moll does a fine performance of the 50's icon, and is convincing in every aspect. Two other performance should also be singled out here to and they are Lili Taylor's & Chris Bauer's performance of Paula & Irving Klaw. Both performers do an excellent job at fleshing out the parts of the exploitive team that introduced Betti...

I just read an interview by Jeremiah Kipp over at the blog The House Next Store , and I kind of get what Godfrey Cheshire is saying about today's world of film & filmmaking. Cheshire wrote a compelling two-part essay called the "The Death of Film: The Decay of Cinema" way back in 1999. The article was written in response to digital video's emergence. It's a good essay, and one you should check out, but the recent interview with Cheshire has me excited. You see having been taught the old way of doing things and coming from a film background I was a bit skeptical about digital video, and it's look. I thought it was an inferior technology, and one that would breed bad films that would look cheap and just plain look bad up on the screen. After all isn't it video? But we've come a long way baby, and the DV technology is fueling the DVD revolution, and what we are seeing is an increase in production of all sorts of films. From documentaries to features ...

Long ago I joined AIVF while I was still in school. Their magazine "The Independent" covered things that were not usually covered in other type of magazines, but that was then, and this is now. Since then there have been several magazines that have come out that do a better job at reporting about film and filmmaking. I tend to agree with people that an organization is needed to advocate for independent media makers especially in such times when government funding is but a memory. It seems more and more funding goes to corporations rather then individual media makers or local media organizations. When I first joined AIVF I used their resources and found contacts, and resources I could use, but as time went by AIVF's resources seemed to dry up. I seemed to get the feeling that I was in a vacuum, and nolonger connected to other media makers. I think this is the problem now. I've always tried to reach out to other filmmakers and media makers, yet I've done this on my ...

I recently got sucked into seeing the movie " Flashdance ", and was taken aback by how quick that movie moves. Over at Cinecultist Karen talks about how quick the movie goes by. I mean in the first 15 minutes you know everything about this movie, and it's characters. But not only does the movie go by fast, but what drew me in originally was it's cinematography by Donald Peterman . I was still in film school when it came out, and I was astounded by it's crisp cinematography. Kodak came out with several new high speed stocks, and along with some fast lenses it seemed one could shoot mid-night in a coal mine with no problem. So began a long experimental period in my life with the camera. The scene where Jennifer Beals is working out was done with predominately sunlight through a sky light. The images are burned into my brain, and not just because Ms Beals looked SO good (okay, okay, Ms Beals had a lot to do with it), but because the cinematography was ground-break...