Check out the trailer for Last Ditch Effort Productions’ first film! It premiered at the 2011 Palm Beach Int’l Film Festival, so it’s kind of a big deal to us!
Directed by: Cliff Burgess and Mikaela Schipani
Starring: Cliff Burgess, Seth Robinson and Mikaela Schipani
How do you go about starting a film production company sort of thing like you and your boyfriend did? I'm an actor who wants more opportunities that aren't abundant and this may be the only way to do it. Plus, I would really love the experience of producing and directing as well! It seems like a lot of fun, but I'm sure there's a good amount of work that goes into it too, besides the acting.
AnonymousIt all started last Spring with our science fiction short, Velhem. My boyfriend, my best friend and I just wanted to make a film together, so we got our camera and did it. Cliff wrote the script, we all acted in it and Cliff and I both directed.
Our goal was to make a legitimate short film with a budget as close to $0 as possible. We literally spent $10 on tapes and something like $30 to submit the film.
After we submitted it to the Palm Beach Int’l Film Festival and it got accepted, we decided to take the production company idea further. The first step was to come up with a name (Last Ditch Effort Productions) and make a Youtube page for our trailers. Last fall, we filmed Hemisphere, and decided to submit it to more festivals. So, now we are addicted to filming. We even made another Youtube channel for our comedic shorts.
Our production company is still in its infancy, and we have a lot more work to do to make it official. We plan on upgrading our equipment and possibly getting other actors/crew involved in the near future. Our next immediate goal is to make a feature film.
I will say that it is SO MUCH FUN making your own films; you get tons of practice in front of and behind the camera. It’s a lot of hard work, especially because Cliff writes the scripts, acts, directs, edits and scores our films. I direct and act as well. Honestly though, it’s worth it.
I wish you would come off of anon so we could talk about these things more!
Links:
As some of you may know, I am part of a small production company called Last Ditch Effort Productions. We have made two short films, Velhem and Hemisphere. Velhem had its debut at the 2011 Palm Beach International Film Festival last March. Hemisphere is currently being submitted to several film festivals. Our next project is a feature length film.
We just recently launched our comedic Youtube channel under the moniker Gang of Babies. We have posted several videos already, and we JUST uploaded a video entitled Facial Hair (or just watch the video I embedded). If you are confused, disturbed or upset, then we have done our job.
This is from the first short film that Cliff & I made together. It was going to be called The 1977’s. It was about a two person band; we even made a music video. We shot the whole thing, but it was never completed.
How long does it take for you to make movies? where does usually take place? and who works the camera, does the editing, and the final cut?
AnonymousIt depends. When we did Velhem, we had to film during the weekend because we needed the location to be completely empty. We shot at FAU in Boca, and it was too busy during the weekdays. That took us about four weekends to complete.
Hemisphere needed to be shot at night inside and outside of our apartment, and that took us about five nights to get it completed. We actually shot additional footage months later after I came back from LA.
Cliff and I both love to direct, so we co-directed Velhem and Cliff directed Hemisphere. Cliff does all of the editing for the films and he makes the music as well.
We have another film in the works right now. We will actually be purchasing a new camera in coming weeks, so we will be shooting in HD finally.
After working out the kinks, Cliff made a new pledge page for Hemisphere!
In a nutshell, we are raising funds through Kickstarter to upgrade our equipment to HD and also to submit Hemisphere to film festivals. The website is a really great way to get the word out about our production company, Last Ditch Effort Productions.
Even if you cannot pledge, reblogging or spreading the word about our endeavors is a HUGE donation in itself!
For those willing to pledge $1 or more, there is an incentive! With each pledge amount, you will receive something in return whether it is a special thanks in the credits, a copy of thesoundtrack or a copy of the film.
Thank you all so much for your support!
