It's December 1st...

So today is the deadline. I've finished with it. I'm putting it in the mail this morning. Done. I should receive a proof back to look over in about a week or so.

Is it everything I hoped? Not really. It is a first film with many foibles and gaffs and errors and that I have learned from. I still think the story is very good and the actors gave some very good performances.

The problems with this film were not the actors or the script, but my inexperience in directing, filming and most importantly editing. I apologize to everyone that I couldn't put together a better project. But I learned a ton and future projects will be exponentially better for what I've learned.

I'm not making this available through createspace and Amazon because I think it'll sell, just that they put together much nicer packaging than I ever could. Also, if you could care less about the packaging and just want to see the movie, give me an email and I'll point you to the dropbox site where it can be downloaded for free.

I am still tentatively trying to figure out a day where we can through a cast party/viewing.

I want to thank all of the good people who helped me, the actors, guest directors, guest editors, makeup people, parents and especially the musicians who I think put together two awesome songs--I listen to "Someone you'd want to know" on my ipod every day.

Monsters is over now. I feel good that I finished a movie--from start to finish. Now, I'll spend the next couple of months working on the Yellow Ball website and tinkering with a new script, while I wait to purchase a new camera.

Happy Holidays to everyone and hope to meet up again with you real soon.

Monsters is pretty much finished.

99% of the editing is done. I'm in the process of writing it out to DVD and making sure it will play on an assortment of DVD players. One or two more scans through with it and then hopefully a viewing for the cast soon.

Hoping to have it shipped off to the distributor next Monday.

Time to start working on another script.

The List of things to be done is a lot shorter now

It is starting to truly feel like I am wrapping up Monsters. I only have one actor's audio redubbing to complete. I've started the DVD menu projects and will begin the gag reel this week. If it doesn't end up being December 1st, it'll be very, very close.

Scene 17

Scene 20

A good weekend...

OK, guys, I actually made real progress this last weekend. If I can get more days like Saturday, I should make my December 1st goal. Big if...

Hoping to get some audio work in this Sunday afternoon....

PC Problems return with a vengeance

So yesterday morning the laptop I've been editing Monsters on booted up and the screen stayed black. It's no fun hearing the stupid windows "chime" and not seeing anything on the screen.

So, editing is being delayed until the Dell rep can come out and replace half of my laptop...

I was actually getting somewhere.

Does anybody out there have Adobe Premiere and After Effects? Anybody willing to help me out with editing...

So much to do...

As I continue to dance with the weirdness of scene 15 of Monsters, a myriad of other ideas come crushing down on my most inexperienced head. There is so much to do to finish this movie by the Dec. 1st self deadline I've given myself.

Now granted, I have reached out to several very talented artists who have agreed to throw in some time to help...but it is still very overwhelming.

Not only do I have to cut and knife and demean my movie down another 30+ minutes atleast, I am now caught in the web of what is a horrible trap--sound! Sound is evil. How movies are ever made outside of a studio bubble is a miracle to me. The wind is my enemy, gravel is the devil, and stray sticks and footing make the foulest of unholy trinities. And don't get me started on mumbling.

I realize that it has been over a year since primary shooting wrapped on my massive project and I further realize that people, especially people you've never paid anything more than food, water, or pizza, are going to have their own real lives, but now I am having a really hard time getting the principle players I need back (at the same time) to re-record the audio. If I can't get cast members back together, perhaps I can record the separately..and how will that sound? Then I have to figure out how to make this audio actually fit the footage...then....my head may explode.

I also have to send some scenes to our musicians to try to spice up some transitions and hopefully help a bunch with the very, very slow pacing.

I have made many, many mistakes during this project. I'm sure my wife would count "starting" as fairly high on the list. Sending my footage off to another editor with the starry eyed notion that it would come back pristine and perfect and, most of all, finished was probably one of my worst mistakes. I still love the idea of having an editor completely separate from the director...but not if that person isn't within driving distance.

The ability to be able to readily and consistently annoy, pester and cajole each other cannot be taken lightly.

Issues with my timetables could also be considered a mistake, although I think I would argue that to some extent. Granted, the original three week filming schedule was very rough and it did go over by three or four weeks. What the frantic schedule did allow for was a unique sense of urgency, which I feel led to both enhanced productivity, but also some mistakes. In the future I would continue on with a "shorter" schedule, but not as short as I did for Monsters. I'd also hope that I'll have an improved organizational plan in place for filming--probably even a story board.

Anyway, back to the Premiere/After Effects Editing party that it feels I may never escape...

Moving along...

officially have gone through scenes 3-14 and am now pretty happy with them. This makes up about a third of the movie. Many thanks to Scott again for helping.

Also, I'm charging on to the very meat of the movie and again facing the very real circumstance of having to call back actors for re-dubbing some very bad audio.

My first projected date for this is September 19th, I've already talked to some of you, but haven't heard from everyone. Please let me know if this date will work for you, I will be picking another day in October also.

Thanks,

Derrick

Opening, no sound, 1st try

There's supposed to be video below this line...




I'd like to thank Scott Casas for doing this for me. I am going to use a lot of the elements he's shown me, but there will be some minor changes in the next go round.

Because the turtle...

Because the turtle is so disappointed in me, I am redoubling my efforts...I know that some scenes are going to need a lot more work than others, but in reviewing my first draft, I also discovered that some scenes don't need as much work as I remember...

So...sticking to Dec 1st!

Hey, go buy a hoodie or something...

OK, I'm putting my foot down

And setting a hard deadline....Dec 1st 2010, I will finish Monsters. Everybody get ready for news about the production being finished and available. I swear it...

Yellow Ball Splash

Monsters - Movie - 2009

"Maybe we're all monsters..."

Edward Green has gone AWOL from the US Army and monsters in his past. While in hiding waiting for his wife to give birth, Edward meets Bennett, a 13 year old kid with a unique monster of a problem of his own.

This new film, filmed in Grosse Ile, Mi has just wrapped principle photography and is moving on to the editing stage.

The film, written and directed by Derrick Barnsdale, stars Zach Douglas, Mitch Range, Alex Barill, William Hall, Jacquie Floyd, Kristi Kennedy, Julia Hawkins, Brittany Thompson, Tim Beson, Don Murphy, Jeff Priskorn, John Kerr, Michael Shennavar, and Michael Bauser.

Monsters is being produced by Yellow Ball Productions in association with Loose Change Entertainment.

This new film, filmed in Grosse Ile, Mi has just wrapped principal photography and is moving on to the editing stage.

Another crazy Move

08/21/10 Things I've learned from editing Monsters

#1 When filming, take your time.

#2 If you think you have enough footage of a shot, take the same shot two more times from different angles. Be creative with new angles.

#3 Only as a last resort do you ever take the camera off the tripod.

#4 Don't film in the woods unless you are prepared to rake the whole woods.

#5 Never allow any actor or actress to wear white, especially when you are using natural sunlight.

#6 No audio software on earth can fix the ambient sound of walking in the woods, walking on gravel or wind noise.

#7 I am not a camera man.

#8 When I hold a camera, I may contract Parkinsens.

#9 Take your time.

#10 Be able to sit back and enjoy the experience.

#11 Rehearse.

#12 After filming, record dialogue separate, just in case.

#13 If something goes wrong while shooting a scene, change nothing (and I mean nothing!) and do the whole thing over again (the whole thing!).

#14 If possible, record audio as many different ways as you can.

#15 Bring both cardboard for blocking light and reflective stuff for redirecting it.

#16 Have a deadline, but make it a reasonable deadline.

#17 Try to not let any shot linger for more than two or three seconds.

#18 If possible assign someone to watch for "continuity."

#19 Rehearse

#20 Record ambient sound

#21 Take your time.

12/22/09

Latest news:

Finished rough draft for "Dead Time" pilot. Sent it out for reviews.

There are shadows in the dark.
There are monsters in the night.
Ghosts cling to us, breathing fear into us all.
My name is Reginald Skoran. I was tormented by ghosts and
demons as a small child. Now I search them out. I will be
a scourge to demons. I will help those who have become
victim to the unexplained.
Between the hours of Midnight and 3 am, the realms of the
unknown try their hardest to effect the lands of the living.
This is where my team and I spend most of our nights
in the Dead Time

12/6/09

Latest news:

I have a movie, albeit one with very slow pacing and some very bad sound, all of which I'm going to start dealing with on the second run through--but right now, I have a movie, a beginning, a middle, and an end.

Monsters currently has a run time of 1 hr 58 minutes, which should be shortened up a bit. Time to start calling back actors for some voice over work.

Thanks to everyone who has been pulling for me during this process.

--DPB

Hello everyone. Welcome to the new Yellow Ball Productions and D P Barnsdale Website.

Thanks for coming.

This site is going to be used to try and tie all of the many different pages/ads/groups that are out on facebook and abroad, whether it be createspace or Amazon or MySpace or Facebook. Somehow I'm going to tie all of these things together, hopefully with a feed from a blogger site.

So, as I am far from the 'King of All Media' and I am working with a shoestring budget...this is a start.

Also, because my shoes no longer have shoestrings, I'm going to trip a lot. So cut me some slack if possible.

--DPB

8/27/09