Writing is so hard to do, I have so much respect to authors and screenwriters out there. I'm trying to pull together a short screenplay for Josh West and I to put into production this spring. I know with my new equipment and a few new kids I've met this semester who want to help out (only after they saw "Inside" were they interested… of course lol) I can make a great short film.
Narrative fiction is a heck of a lot different from music videos. The film technique and direction is almost polarized, believe it or not. In music videos, you are constantly making quick cuts to keep the audience interested. Rarely do you show a clip for longer than 2 seconds. In narrative shorts, shots are longer and focus is on the character and dialogue more so than what's going on on-screen. So it will no doubt be a challenge. I'm pretty excited.
The question is, how long to make it? I've done a lot of research on festivals and well, you really need to know how you want to distribute your film before you even start writing it! There are so many restraints in the festival circuit… your film is 10:01 minutes? Well, now you're out of short short category and into regular shorts. Oh your synopsis is 251 words instead of 250? Well you're DQ'd and you just wasted $45 on your entrance fee! haha stuff like that.
I'm testing the waters with "Inside" first. We'll see how it goes. But as far as screenwriting for short films is concerned, Linda Cowgill is the know-all-end-all of knowledge. If you are anywhere near interested in writing, pick up one of her books and you'll be good to go.
I knew it! If you look back a few posts I ranted about the glorious Nikon D90 that I bought, because digital is the way to go. I bought a $49 16G memory card, have filmed around 4 hours of footage and not even 7G have been used yet… That's already $30 in miniDV tape stock. Plus, no time wasted log-and-capturing, instant footage-review, and more. I couldn't be happier.
I was talking with my friend David Ricks here at Temple University yesterday about film (I'm trying to enlist him as a producer on my next short film), and we got on the subject of the digital SLR and I started explaining the D90 and all it's beauty. He mentioned seeing something similar on the "behind the scenes" of the Young Money "Bedrock" shoot, but he wasn't sure what it was…
I just checked it out, and it is hard for me to contain myself. If you strip away the big shoulder mounts, hand grips and follow-focus mounts… all these guys are using is a digital SLR… possibly even the D90 itself! I FREAKIN KNEW IT!! I freakin knew it was a good buy and that I'll be ahead of the game and look! Now I'm eye to eye with the dudes that got the gig to produce this music video.
I'm going to go bask in the glory of this foresight I have so awesomely taken advantage of :)
PS – At around 55 seconds, you'll see the guy holding the little SLR in his hands. Oh the joy. This is what my video shoots look like. One guy walking backwards (usually Josh West) trying not to fall! haha
This video “Rude Boy” for Rihanna is possibly the worst video I have ever seen in my life. It even rivals Drake’s “Best I Ever Had” video, where both artists’ labels decided the best idea for a video is to throw the most random, unrelated footage together that they possibly could find and call it a video.
First off, Rihanna moves like a 100% stripper. This is the difference between her and Beyonce or Britney Spears back in the day… at least they could be sexy with some class. I’m mixed between being almost grossed out and just plain feeling bad for Rihanna for having to dress and move the way she did in this video. I’m sorry, feel free to disagree but I’m in utter shock after watching this. Utter shock because it’s such a piece of crap. Yeah, Rihanna looks like a dumbass too but what I can’t get past is how horribly directed and… envisioned this was. I don’t know what happened, because the same guy that directed this video directed her last video, “Hard”. And that was an awesome video.
click here to watch “Hard” ft. Young Jeezy
I’m not taking a shot at Rihanna because I know she had close to 0% say as to what went in to this video. And for the record, the song is awesome. But this is a perfect example of how labels are doing everything so wrong. My mind is legit blowing up right now. Take some pride in your work. I am also thoroughly confused by her costume designer‘s decisions lol.
Maybe I’m looking too deep into it. Maybe it was supposed to be just a fun, playful video. If so, touche. I still think it sucks.
Musicians Friend is to musicians as Withoutabox is to filmmakers/screenwriters. I'm working on submitting "Inside" to a bunch of festivals. You have to create a great looking press kit with all the works: synopsis (French and English…), screenshots, cast, crew, bios, director's statements, press clippings, etc. Pain in the butt! Here's a PDF of one of the EPK versions, in case you are interested:
But I got it done yesterday morning with my coffee machine at the ready. So now all I have to do is find the right festivals. It's a challenge. "Inside" would get DQ'd as a short film almost immediately, because there is so much music. Thus, I have to find festivals that have music video categories. Then, I have to check when the early bird deadline is and how much the entrance fee is. Some of these festivals cost $75 to enter! Yeah right! Sundance, for example, screened 100 films out of the 9,400 they received last year. Those odds are terrible! You might as well throw your money away. At least for someone in my situation. I'm looking for a great success rate. I want to be able to say my films have made it to jury'ed festivals and won. People don't know how big or small these festivals are! It's all about having the stats. That's my focus. With those stats South9 Entertainment will have even more clout! Bahahah.
So throughout the week I'll be updating my EPK, editing text, changing pictures, trying to make things great. And when I find some good festivals, I shall submit. Hopefully this summer I'll get a few letters in the mail saying my film has been accepted! Fingers crossed.
I read Bob Lefsetz's newsletter about once a week. Bob is an extreme realist, and tends to look at the glass as half empty, but I can respect that, because someone has to talk about all the bullcrap that goes on in the music industry.
In his latest post he states: "I often wonder what it would be like to go to college today." Welp, Bob Lefsetz, here I am. Dave Patten, 21 year old aspiring songwriter and musician who is fully embracing the safety-net method. Why the heck not? I attend Temple University's film school, and yes, we students of today have just as much time on our hands as you did back in the day. Most spend their weeknights at the bar or fake-studying in their dorm rooms with a case of beer. Youth still have the same needs to socialize — but technology has pretty much ruined it. Now, instead of sparking up conversation with the pretty girl, you both pretend to respond to text messages or emails, acting like you're busy so you don't look like a loser at the bar talking to no one… it's almost funny.
You reminisce on the old days of college, I reminisce on the old days of high school lol. Back then, if I were stuck in a group project with a pretty girl it was almost a guarantee that I could make something happen :) In college, everyone comes to class with their hoods up and ipods playing, takes notes, and bolts out of class. There is no longer any interaction. Yeah it sucks. Used to be easier. But whatever. If it isn't a challenge, it's not worth it.
We have laptops, you didn't. We have the internet, you had the big old library. And yes! Our TVs display color! Ok, maybe you're not that old haha but you see the trend…
I take full advantage of the situation. I enroll in all night classes that meet once a week. I have a 19-credit semester and a 4-day weekend every week. I can write the standard 3-5page midterm in about two hours with the access of the internet. I have never gone to the library in my 7.5 semesters of college (with a 3.67 GPA thank you). I don't need to. Everything is instantaneous online. Thus, I have time to spend on projects of my own, like music & music videos…
BAM! Here I am, 21 years old taking meetings in NYC every other Thursday or Friday afternoon with labels like Hollywood Records, RCA, J, Zomba Label Group, etc.! And yes, I read your blog — I don't give a darn about the labels! Well, wait, let me explain… One of the best parts about taking these meetings is that I can blog about it and post pics to my facebook page, so my fans perceive me as a rising star!! That alone makes it pretty clear how much the music biz has changed.
I have over 55 YouTube videos, 1.5+ million views on my videos alone (and no I don't use auto-play-bots or pay for plays…) 10,000 people on my email list, my websites facebook myspace vimeo twitter youtube purevolume jango pandora typepad wordpress YOU NAME IT are all up-to-date and managed by… me. I love it. I figured out what I want to do with my life a lot sooner than most people, which is why I am where I am. I'm not going to grovel at the label's feet… yes, they are still a juggernaut when it comes to marketing and promo and I would love to team up with them, but if their "cautious" steps result in passing on me, no prob. I am the independent you always talk about.
If I didn't have my laptop and iPhone, I'd probably die. But if I were going to school when these weren't invented, I'd be fine. My love for music will never change, only my circumstances and surroundings will. I have adapted to the most cost/beneficial situation I could find. Yes, every move I make is premeditated. Hey, it's worked out pretty well so far! I guess going on tour across America for four years and getting signed is the more 'romantic' or 'dreamy' or 'classic' rock-star story but f-that. I want a degree to fall back on, and I'm 2 months away from it. I want my music to be heard by everyone, and I'm 1.5 million listens deep. I want to do what I want, and my production LLC is pulling in profits to the point where I can (almost) make a living :) Isn't that what we're supposed to do? "Isn't life about enjoying the ride?"
I'm sure it's tough for you to comprehend how my generation could possibly be entertained by MTV's Jersey Shore or American Idol (I sometimes wonder myself) but your parents were wondering the same thing as you passed the bong listening to Dark Side of the Moon with the lights off, your incense burning and your tye-dye bandanna holding back your long hair! It just happens. Tis the gap between the generations.
No worries Bob Lefsetz, college is still awesome. Success is still the end goal, but money isn't everything (cliche alert!). Most people give up the dream of being famous or getting drafted mid-college anyway. Being wired-in is just the way we do things now, just as free-love and hippie jam bands were your pass times. All I know is that I have nothing better to look forward to lol… the internet, iTunes and terrible TV sitcoms are all I've ever had.
I drink a lot of milk with my cookies, and the glass is always half full.
http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
Met with DJ Damage at Temple yesterday to talk some business and make big plans for this spring semester. We came to the conclusion that the live show needs to be the primary focus. Jason Jordan at Hollywood Records is really interested in seeing my live show in front of my fans, so we need to make that happen! Damage is actually the one who brought all of this into action — he made a presentation on my music to his Music Entertainment class last semester. Jason Jordan happened to stop in for the presentation (he is pals with the professor of the class). He loved my music! And so history was made haha.
Afterwords I headed back home so I could work on updating a few of the websites, as well as edit some video and play guitar. The usual. Here's my new laptop spot in the kitchen:
Stopped by Josh West’s house this afternoon to work on the live show. Our duo act is the first step in the process. Once we get things down between the two of us we can add a drummer and the rest of the crew. But as far as the shows at Puck’s on Thursday and at Maxwell’s March 5th are concerned, Josh and I are the headliners.
We actually practiced for four hours… felt like a good 45 minutes haha… towards the end we just started jamming out, letting the music take over. Believe me, it’s a lot more fun to space out into random 15-minute jams than it is to play a bunch of 3 minute songs :) But no worries, we got it out of our systems!
video filmed via iPhone by Dave Patten
The set list is coming together great!
We had a lot of fun making this video. We actually shot it twice, however I found the original footage to have a better feel to it, so I went with it. The shoot was about 4 hours, quick and fun! Enjoy :)
Temple closed down for this massive snow storm we're having today (dream come true) so I'm back home in the studio all day. I'm working on editing the video for "Oh No" as well as the "Inside" Behind the Scenes video.
Along with that, I've got this track called "Hot" that I want to send to Fese to have rap on it. I think it can be a HUGE video/club anthem. Fese's brother DJ Damage is hooked up with 100.3 The Beat downtown, so maybe he can sneak in a few spins at the station and the song will catch on! Regardless, the video probably won't even begin shooting until the weather warms up (aka a few months…) but pre-production needs to begin now!
photo still from video shot by Marilisa Patten via Nikon D90
My new camera is absolutely awesome. I went outside last night to walk
the dog and toyed around with it. It can capture beautiful HD with
light only coming from the street light. blows my mind. I couldn't be
more pleased :)
Putting on a great live show is the hardest thing to do at my stage, if you ask me. I am an original act, and booking agents are only interested in cover bands. Cover bands fill bars, original acts… don't. If you can't bring in a lot of people to the show, you don't get paid very much, and the cost/effectiveness of gigging tends to plummet.
But I have put it off for long enough, and all these label A&R guys want to see an awesome live show, and well… what am I doing all of this for anyway if not to reach the A&R guys? It is time.
First step, I need to learn how to play my own songs lol. Before you make judgment, remember that I have over 60 songs published, and over 200 written in the past four years. I don't exactly remember how I played each song, so I just put them on repeat for a refresher, get out my guitar, and voila! Step one complete.
Second step, I need to get a band together. I spoke with Josh West and he's game for playing bass and working the backup vocals. I'm putting the word out for a drummer, and DJ Damage is on for DJing any show. So this step is still in the works.
Third Step, working on performance. It's one thing to stand there and play the right chords, sing the right lyrics… another to put on a show. This is the hardest part for me. I am a shy person. Don't ask me why the hell I chose to pursue showbiz… sh** happens. Here I am. I need a lot of work on working the audience, and movement on stage. It's pretty freakin hard to do what Coldplay or U2 does on stage. First of all, they have like 8 other musicians backstage playing other instruments to fill in the sound. I'll have 3 instruments, possibly four going. That's it. Secondly, they always have awesome laser-lights shows, whereas I will not lol. Lastly, everyone in the audience knows their songs. Everyone in my audience gets most excited when I finally start to play a cover song…
But you can't expect to become CEO right out of college, so I can't expect to have laser-lights and everyone in the crowd screaming the lyrics along with me. It's a long road ahead, and I'll do my best to prepare.
I have a show in two weeks at Puck's in Doylestown. I'll be prepping for that all week and weekend. If all goes well, this live show could really evolve into something great. I still would prefer to bum around recording in my studio and making music videos ;)