The French Connection

2007-12-09T21:29:00.000-08:00

so we have a picture lock since a couple of days now... We're doing color correction on the computer and we're meeting with the sound designer on Tuesday so it can be finished before we leave. It's going sooooooo fast. We'll just have to do music once we're back and the movie will be done.
We had Kristine Cofsky to come over for some reshoot for the opening credits. It looks really great. We got some amazing shots and it feels good to have our own camera now cause we can shoot ANYTIME.

Talking about shooting anytime. We decided to shoot the first 10 pages of ELLES TROIS. We were supposed to meet with a french actress for the part of Charlotte but she never showed up so we'll shoot that in France and it actually gave us an idea for the beginning of the movie... so...
We did shoot Ashley and Helen's stuff and it looks great. Thanks to Kristine (god she's everywhere), Juan, Sara, colin, Ryan and Lori ... Yes Ryan Robbins and Lori Triolo... When you love them, you want them in every project! So we're gonna cut that together. We have to find some actors back in France now...

turning a page and starting over.

2007-11-01T19:30:00.000-07:00

I just burnt a DVD of cut number 4. Not that rough anymore. We're on the right track. The second test screening was hard but so useful. It's amazing the difference between what we have today and what was cut the first time.

bla bla bla

2007-10-14T20:43:00.000-07:00

the rough cut of smile of april is done and we're working on the second one already.

tracy came over to watch it and it's amazing what a person who didn't know anything about the story can do. She totally opened our eyes to problems we never considered... but that said... with a lot of work, it's gonna be a sweeeeeeet movie.

It's 100 minutes for now and we're thinking of cuttting off one story... not 100% sure yet but ...

so we're also thinking about the next one. Working title is "we're all somebody's stranger" but we're looking for an other title, probably in French, maybe a mix... something about family... about the three sisters... not that easy to find a title!

Our application for a visa was rejected. Seems like we're not good enough for canada so... we'll both be heading back to France sometimes soon.

For the DVD thing, it's on hold for now but I'm sure we'll find a way for the different regions...

september news

2007-09-26T19:17:00.000-07:00

So it's an official wrap on Smile of April. We did some reshoot this week end. We lost two scenes from the hard drives and had to reshoot them... plus another scene we had to reshoot with anne marie and torri. It went well, really well. the scenes ended up being way better than what they used to be so, no regrets.

We finished the first draft of the next feature film "We're all someone's stranger" ... we're gonna start looking into French fundings, co-productions, ect...

the rough cut of Smile of April will be done at end of the week, next week the latest.

We're working on making a DVD with our three shorts...

updates

2007-09-06T16:45:00.000-07:00

So we're gonna edit Smile of April ourselves. WE decided that waiting to find money to pay an editor was taking the risk not to have a movie done by the end of the year. We're gonna do it and Zoltan will still try to get money for sound design and color correction.

We found the locations we needed to shoot the first 8 pages of "We're all someone's stranger", we'll cut a promotional teaser out of it. Now the issue is... do we take union Actors? Don't want to pay 50$ per day and per actor... well, I would love to if I had the money. So do we do it anyway and find a way? or do we go non union? We'll take a decision this week.

We're also working on ideas to make the behind the scenes of Sanctuary. We sent a pitch to Damian today. Hope he'll like it.

Gonna watch "A cinderella story" to make sure I don't do the same thing with "life is not a fairy tale" even though this one will be darker.

got the next 33 pages of "We're all someone's stranger" ready to be sent to the Cold Reading Series.

2007-08-24T18:35:00.000-07:00

so the script "We're all someone's stranger" is almost done. First draft at least. It's really exciting, I'm in love with it.
"If the world" won't be made like it was supposed to, since our producer decided he didn't have time to do it anymore.
Smile of April is on hold while our exe producer is trying to raise money but if we don't start editing in september we're taking the project back on the track it was supposed to take from the start.

2007-08-01T17:07:00.000-07:00

So yesterday I started writing a script that i wasn't supposed to write.. it's not even in the list of the future projects (Yet) but as I was trying to find ideas for the feature "10 reasons why" (not in the list either) I kept coming up with ideas for this other script that I have no idea how to call...

It's about three sisters, one lives in Toronto, one in Los Angeles, One between Paris and London ... and they all find themselves at their mother's house in Burgundy ... thinking they would be alone... wow it sounds so cheesy when I pitch it lol ... Sounds like "a year in provence" ... but it's not cheesy... not at all... it's beautfiful... it's about people, relationship, it will make you smile, just like Smile of April.

We're mixing both languages in this one and it's a dramedy and I'm in love with it... Already got the cast in mind but we need a budget if we wanna shoot in France... OR, we go non union and go to my place in Burgundy and shoot Guerilla... we'll see.

writing

2007-07-29T20:45:00.001-07:00

Every year Terra Incognita changes... so today, we got a first draft 2007... it's mixed of what were supposed to be the first three episodes. The script will change a lot but at least we have something to rewrite, something we're happy with...

Got some other ideas for other features too... will put them on the website when we have a bit more details to give.

2007-07-21T12:30:00.000-07:00

so four month of silence... that's a long time. BUT we were writing in the SMILE OF APRIL day by day so we didn't really stay that silent...
Smile of April is done shooting, we're now entering post production, or at least on the point of entering post production since we're gonna try to get some money to go to professional sound studio and color correction... then it will look even more like a real movie :) ... so right now we're waiting.

and while waiting we're getting busy with other stuff here and there. Finding new idea for feature films... they come by themselves, we're not looking for them I swear. We put two of them in the "future project" section, in feature films. I love the idea of the Cinderella Story.

It's been a couple of days we're been working on Terra Incognita. We're rewriting the pilote, combining the 3 first episodes into a 2 hour pilote. SOOOO FRUSTRATING. We're write for actors, we write character driven story but there is so many things to introduce, so many charaters, there is no time for character moments. NOT YET. But that's what pilote are for, right? Introducing... so we're gonna go crazy on the characters moments in the other episodes...

anyway... we're not happy yet with what we have for the pilote. It just feels like we're throwing info... Once we have a happy first draft 2007 (yes we had new first draft every year) we'll ask some people to read it and give feedbacks.

We're also starting production for IF THE WORLD ... a short movie. very special, maybe our last short if we don't find any super original ideas... We have to find the location. A soundstage, a wharehouse where it can be pitch black so we have total control over the light... and where we can build our fake set.

It's raining.

We made crepes yesterday.

We're gonna eat crepes today.

Have to read the Terra Incognita notes, the ones taken over the last 3 years... got a lot of ideas in 3 years. :)

It's the end of July....

We're still waiting for permanent residency.

Smile of April

2007-04-01T11:34:00.000-07:00

wow, it's been a while... almost a month.

So what's new?
We shot the trailer of Smile of April

We put the new website online: www.smileofapril.com

We started auditioning yesterday and are really happy so far, we're gonna have a great cast and it's gonna be a sweet little movie. I can't wait.

Terry Miles is doing some story editing for Smile of April. We love Terry.

We rewrote one of the story, got rid of two characters to create a new one...

We offered three characters to actors we know here in vancouver and wanna work with again... or for the first time.

We're waiting on four actors to get back to us ...

We're eating a lot of pastas

We're still looking for a DOP who's gonna make some magic.

Yay we got our taxes back, it's gonna pay the rent for this month.

We're auditioning again today and hopefully we'll get our cast finalize soon.

We're still looking for locations, couple of houses... appartments...

Selling credits

2007-02-02T17:42:00.000-08:00

Broken artists Pictures is entering in production for it's new project SMILE OF APRIL, a feature film in the spirit of Magnolia, 9 lives, 13 conversations, playing by heart, love actually. We're looking forward to raising money for this low budget independant motion picture.

The donator's name will be shown in the ending credits.
Executive producers will also see their names in the
beginning credits.
It will also be shown after these words: "This film would not
be possible without: "donator's name". You will also see your
name on our website and IMDB and will be sent one DVD of the
film once it has been released to video.

“Smile of April”
Life changes like the tide, in accordance with the whole
universe but you. It only takes one second, one place, one
person. It can happen anytime, even now, the 4th of April, at
5pm. Smile of April, it's five stories, five lives changed by a
similar event...

You can find a more info about the movie at:
www.brokenartists.com
www.myspace.com/smileofapril

We'll be shooting in Vancouver, British Columbia SPRING 2007.
Once finished, Smile of April will be sent to film festival
and we'll be pursuing distribution and foreign sales.

Pricelist:
Associate producer credit: between 150 and 300$
Executive producer credit: $300 and more
(for smaller donation, please contact us)

Please be aware that this does not imply ownership or
creative control over the final product.

(In some areas of the world, money invested in supporting
feature films can be applied to tax credits/deductions.)

Smile Of April

2007-02-01T11:36:00.000-08:00

Smile of April is 100 pages.

I don't like pre production, I'd like to start shooting tomorrow he he.

anyway, we're looking forward to organizing a fundraising event end of Feb, beginning of March. It's amazing how people are not interesting in helping you out if you tell them your budget is super low. Some people truly believe that a good movie can only be made with lots of money, we don't. We believe in story and actors ( and craft service of course)

we sent the script to some actors already, we need to organize auditions... and still have to meet some people to try to get sponsored (free gear yay!!)

back

2007-01-12T16:52:00.000-08:00

we're back, and the food is as testless as we thought it would be... bah, we'll have to deal with it.

Just worked on Smile of April and cut off 20 pages! It's hard to kill your babies but it's better for the story so...

We're seing Ryan monday to work on "the future"...

The feature script for SMS is on hold right now... gotta find a B plot a then... write the entire thing!

Can't wait to start shooting.

some news from France

2006-12-20T03:57:00.000-08:00

We're back in France for a couple of weeks.

We decided to put some scritps on the net. They are spec scripts for Atlantis. We didn't work that much on them, most of them are a first draft or a second draft. there are only two of them online for now but we've got three more to come! http://brokenartists.com/scripts

Save My Soul, the feature. Well, we've got a pretty solid A plot and a nice mythology. We'll work on B plot as soon as we get back together in Vancouver and then we'll start writing.

Can't wait to make Smile of April and I hope UBCP won't be too much trouble. Paying actors would double, probably triple our budget and it's not good...

A feature for Save My Soul

2006-11-17T21:44:00.000-08:00

We've got a happy-ready-to-be-given-to-producers-draft of Smile of April... and it's 120 pages.

Decided to write a feature about Save My Soul .... we're creating the "mythology" of the story first... and then we'll dig into it to put together a nice plot... The story would revolve around Terra... who might not be a punk this time... but who for sure, will be a very special angel... More to come!

We gave the picture lock of Planet 6 to Rory today so he can start working on the music.... and Monday we'll go and see Adam to get a trailer and a picture lock on Save My Soul. I wonder if it will be done before we leave for France...

Vancouver water is polluted.... and you'd think they'd be ready for some rain.... BAH.

Save My soul ... we're getting there

2006-11-08T12:46:00.000-08:00

We went to see Adam yesterday and worked on Save My Soul for about 6 hours... we did three scenes... and they're the smallest ones lol... It's looking really good. It's funny, smooth and the light looks amazing. We're meeting again next week and are aiming at a picture lock... after that we'll just have to work on sound and music and yeaaaaah DONE. We'll have a trailer cut together to put on the website too. Planet 6 will be done probably at the same time.

Make me want to learn how to edit... anyone wants to donate a MAC?

Next week I think we'll decide if we shoot "In his head" and HOW we shoot it ... One shot or not one shot, that's the question. And damn UBCP....

anyway... discovered the show Gilmore Girls... I though it would be some kind of cheesy show... and I ended up watching season 1 (22ep) in three days, in other words, I'm totally addicted and I have 7 seasons to catch up with. The writing and the characters are so brillant I wish I was english it would give me more chances to write with that quality of dialogues.

Off to send "we're so screwed" to some festivals all around the world.

and happy we are...

2006-11-02T22:07:00.000-08:00

he he... I loved it.

Actually Adam didn't get the notes we gave him with the best takes and better performances so there are some stuff that still need to be changed but it looks really good. Torri and Tristin were so good that we don't know what to choose... it's like, you'd need to split the screen in two so you can see both of them all the time. We also realized that some scenes have like 10 different shots... we went totally crazy with our two cameras!
... But we had some ideas for the cut as we were watching it,for the music too, he he. I can't wait to see the final product.

Dave has a a first cut of Planet 6 ... geez they're fast!

First Cut

2006-11-02T10:20:00.000-08:00

We're going to see the first rough cut of "Save My soul" in a couple of hours... I feel exactly the same that for "We're so screwed" super excited and super scared at the same time. I WANT to LOVE IT... I've seen bad editing before and OUCH... thank god I trust Adam... We'll tell you when we get back home how it was!

Went to Wendy. D 's studio yesterday to prep for Saturday, it looks awesome. Plain white. Very unreal... he he... Saturday is only one scene, one page... it's gonna go so fast. I don't want it to go fast. Not with SJR as an actress... I think that's why we rewrote this specific story in Smile of April... Cause we want to direct her more. Hopefully she'll say yes. I can't wait to start building a team for this feature... and I can't wait to ask some actors to be in it. It will all happen when we get back from France (or From France... who knows we might be bored to death)

anyway.... be right back after seeing the first cut!

How to build a meteor for 2$

2006-10-24T20:02:00.000-07:00

>> Step 0

Be smarter than us and make sure the meteor you wanna build will fit through the door before building it in your kitchen.

>> Step 1

Buy some balloons. The price of the balloons will be your entire budget.

>> Step 2

Take the balloons and tape them together so they form the shape you're looking for.

>> Step 3

Prep the paste for the "Papier Mâché" and get some FREE news papers ready.

>> Step 4

Take the layers of news papers and dig them into the gisgusting paste you just made. Put them around the balloons until they are entirely covered. Now your meteor looks like balloons wrapped with news papers.

>> Step 5

Square the angles, add some shapes here and there with more news papers. Now your meteor looks like a meteor made of news paper.

>> Step 6

Take a break and let it dry. Go watch a long movie but don't take a shower yet cause you're not done yet.

>> Step 7

You need to give it some texture. Make it look like rock. That's where you look for a Special Effects guy. They always have tons of advice and sometimes they have leftovers from the last show they just wrapped. They will be happy to get rid of these left over and it will make more room in their studio. (Check out the films that are being shot on line and try to get a hold of the special effect department)

>> Step 8

Once you get something for the texture, spread it on your meteor. ( Here we got some snow, leftovers from a commercial)

>> Step 9

Once the texture is dry, your meteor looks like a colorless rock. But, you got some paints and colors from your new friend of the Special Effect to make it look better.

>> Step 10

The meteor is done... ( you can add some other stuff of course, there is always something somewhere that will make it look better)

>> Step 11

Because there is no meteor without a big crater... And because you're not allowed to dig a hole in this backyard that is not yours.... Go check out in your neighborhood, there are always some houses in construction with tons of dirt. Aks politely if you can get some to build a crater in your backyard... For a movie.

Here is your meteor!

That's a wrap

2006-10-22T18:42:00.000-07:00

We started at 8am and wrapped at 6pm... 2 hours early. YAY

The day went so well. I was kinda scared about the number or actors and one shot scenes we had but it went soooooooooo smoothly, mainly thanks to our amazing team. There is a 1page and a half scene where we have 7 actors and probably 7 backgrounds and everybody is moving around and the camera follows them one after the other... And it was just perfect. Everybody was great and we ended up with a very good looking shot. I have to say we were once again spoiled with our actors, seriously spoiled. They were all fantastic.

The "meteor" looked AWESOME, the smoke, the lime, it made it look so real. Bless the guy who invented paper mâché...

We have one more scene to shoot on the 4th of November, the Alien scene at Wendy's studio and then we'll have everything. Can't wait to direct Sarah-Jane.

Anyway, got tons of cleaning to do. We'll do that tomorrow. Can't wait to see the pics and the dailies...

- We should have a first rough cut of SMS this week end...
- We'll rewrite the 3rd act of "Jesus Nut's" this week cause Bill is reading it on Monday.
- We'll rewrite Smile Of April to have a descent first draft and present it to a couple of persons that might end up producing it... or at least helping us producing it.
- I soooooo wanna shoot "In his head", but because the concept is similar to SMS, we have to rewrite it and shoot it a different way. We wanna try the One shot concept. 6 or 7 pages in one shot ( we might cheat a bit lol). It's gonna be so hard for the light and directing and set ups (there are time cuts so it means we'll have to change set dec, switch actors and wardrobe, while on a close up on the main character...) So exciting.
- We have to rest a bit but we say that every time we shoot and two days after we get bored. So I guess I'll post again it two days to see what we're up to.

Off to take a shower.

The giant dry biscuit

2006-10-20T17:56:00.000-07:00

Today we built a meteor with its crater.

"Planet 6" is coming along pretty well. We're shooting in two days and just need to do a couple more things tomorrow. The meteor is drying in the backyard, hopefully squarels and other creatures of the night will stay away from it ( we protected it but we never know... these little guys could be really hungry and think it's some kind of giant dry biscuit!)

Anyway... We're ready to shoot another one.

The Magic Big Mac

2006-10-17T20:17:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow we're meeting with a SFX guy to give us some tips for the "thing from space", then we have to build it, sounds like a lot of fun he he.

We were having a fake dinner at McDonald when we started talking about Smile of April, there is a part of the story that doesn't satisfy us... and there is this actress and friend of us we really want to have for the feature... but there was no good character for her... and then, as if the big mac had super powers (it happened several times already) we had THE idea.... you know, the idea that makes you wanna re write the all story and you don't care it means HOURS in front of your computer cause you're so excited about it. That's the part I love about rewriting... when you got the magic ideas that make your first draft ( that you thought was not too bad) looks like crap... Means you're moving forward to something better... well at least something you like better.

Should get more big mac...

Planet 6

2006-10-13T17:03:00.001-07:00

We're shooting "Planet 6" on October the 22nd, and November the 3rd for the alien scene. We just had a meeting with our DOP and storyboard artist... pretty exciting!

We're so screwed is finished. We're waiting for the DVDs to send them to festivals.

Can't wait to cast "Smile of April"

bla bla bla

2006-10-06T09:53:00.000-07:00

"Smile of April" is 90 pages. It's now entering the endless phase of rewriting.

"One day or another" is 50 pages for now... Still working on it, the second part is harder to write but way more challenging too. We met a guy from France who just created his own production company. They're shooting a feature next year with a damn big french cast! really impressive. His goal is to find north american movies that would be shot in France... and guess what... This one takes place in France and will be shot in English...

"Green" is 95 pages... we might have to change the title of this one if we get rid of the "green" stuff... still rewriting to make it easier to shoot cause we're actually thinking of directing this one soonish ( meaning not waiting for money to fall from the sky)

"Jesus Nut's" is 101 pages, just got corrected by Ryan's friend and will soon be into some producers' hands.

So that was for the features.

We're entering in production for " PLANET 6", we called the actors, we going for October the 22nd. Have to call the crew now.

Tonight we should get to see the dailies from "Save My Soul". I just can wait. It looked so great on the monitor. Wouldn't it be great if the movie could edit itself as you're shooting it? We could all have a copy of it at the end of the day. Dream, dream.... Wish I knew how to edit.

" Save My Soul", ect.

2006-10-02T09:22:00.000-07:00

And magic it was.... No giant frogs, no earthquake. Everything went well and smoothly. The actress just rocked and gave an entire new dimension to the script, the crew was awesome, the food was here! We entered the house at 8am and left at 8pm... perfect timing. 12 hour day to shoot 7 pages. We are so happy. Can't wait to see the dailies and a rough cut... can't... wait...
We've been watching the behind the scene, it's hilarious... can't... wait...to...see... dailies...

We're taking a few days off before starting the prep for the next one, "Planet 6", it will be easier and shorter though. It's a 4 pages script, but with a lot of small parts here and there.

We have to re write in his head. We wrote it before save my soul and it's also the story of an angel. It could actually be the continuity of Save My Soul, we could follow the evolution of Terra, the angel, but "Terra" won't be available so.... need to rewrite it cause the stories are two similar in some points.

Had such a blast this week end... I wanna shoot Smile Of April.... We had to take a break on the writing because of prepping the short. But you know how it is, good actors make you wanna write more!