#tbt My First Short Film… lol

I forgot about this little film I made last year. I have a few screenplays I’ve written that will never be made into films unless I film them, an idea I have since abandoned. Making a movie costs money— a lot of money, so I had to figure out a way to make a movie without spending a ridiculous amount of money. I had earned a spot at the Austin Film Festival for a screenplay I had written, and actually learned a lot about making independent films. One solution that kept popping up was to use your phone. These phones are made so well as far as photography and video are concerned and really, if you wanted to make a movie bad enough and are on a budget, buy yourself another phone for the sole purpose of filming. It’s much cheaper than an actual cinema quality movie camera, although I hear the Black Magic pocket camera is pretty kick ass for the money. But if you have another friend or 2 with a smartphone, you could totally pull off a film. You just have to get creative.

So anyway, I thought I’d play around with my iPhone and Adobe After Effects to see what kind of quality I could get. At the time, I was balls deep into French films from the 60’s (don’t judge) and thought I could fudge the quality if I slowed down the footage, made it black and white, and played with the overall composition. This was my first time editing and I really didn’t know what I was doing, but I think I got a decent hand on it. I mean, I made my auntie cry… although it doesn’t take much to make aunt Jenny cry.

So here is my first short film— Contemplating Generations. And by short, I mean it’s less than 2 minutes long. It stars my father Greg (who had no idea I was filming him) and niece Margo. A man reflects on his role as a father and hopes he can fulfill his new role as grandfather.