This idea has been thrown around before, but nobody has taken the bull by the horns. The topic just came up in another thread, and I thought it was time to test the waters.

Are any of you filmmakers interested in working together on a film project? If the various tasks of filmmaking were split up, a group could create a nice 15 to 20 minute film with each person investing just a fraction of the effort he would have to expend if he went it alone.

Here are the roles I can see such a project would need. Keep in mind, many of these could be shared by more than a single person:

Producer (to coordinate the work of the rest)
Screenwriter
Director (perhaps as many as three for capturing video)
Editor
Music composer/editor
Sound editor (explosions)
Visual effects creator/editor
Titles creator
Voice actors
Pilots

If nobody else wants the job, I will volunteer to the be the guy who runs around with his head cut off trying to coordinate the group's efforts (the producer). I'm also willing to be the one to type up the shooting script from the story ideas the group comes up with. (I'm assuming these are tasks nobody else would want to do, but if you want them, speak up. I would be more than happy to do something less time consuming. )

If there is enough interest to make this work, I think all of those involved should brainstorm and share their coolest story ideas to help create a script. Haven't we all spent time daydreaming about a killer story that would make for a great IL-2 film, all the while knowing we don’t have enough spare time to tackle such a large project alone? After the group shares its story ideas, everyone can vote on which one would work the best. Then we can set about refining the storyline and dialogue together. This is precisely the way it works in Hollywood. A screenwriter may sell a screenplay to a studio, but that's just the start. The screenplay goes through many drafts before a shooting script is created and filming begins. BTW, those who are not interested in working on the story and just want to play a smaller part don't have to worry. I just don't want people to think that this is all about making someone else's dream film a reality. It should be a community effort, although, realistically, it will probably be one person who comes up with the story concept that forms the basis of the project. Still, that idea will just be the starting point. One person may have a great story, but others may have ideas for individual action sequences, etc.

If you are interested in working on such a project, please leave a post and say which tasks you would like to do. Again, many of these roles could be shared, so don't hold back if another person has already expressed interest in one you want.

BTW, the movie "Tora, Tora, Tora" (about the attack on Pearl Harbor, for those who haven't seen it) had two totally different film crews; one was American, the other was Japanese. Their footage was combined in the editing room, and I think the project worked very well. Anyway, sound off if this idea appeals to you. Maybe this could even bring some of the retired and semi-retired filmmakers back from the dark side.

Heh, a volunteer, that is just not the army way!

I would love to help in any way I can, possibly

Director
Editor
Pilot
Historical research (not in your original list)

Another couple of tasks that you might need:
Mission builder
Skinner

Hey, Joe. I figured you'd be interested after your post in the thread I mentioned. Glad to see there are a number of things you'd be interested in doing.

Good points about the three other tasks. I thought about listing 'mission builder', but I wasn't sure if directors would prefer to build their own missions. However, it's definitely a task someone will have to do, and, depending on the complexity of the 'sets', it may require someone with some mission-building expertise.

Skinners and researchers might very well be needed but we won't know for sure until the story is chosen. For example, if the story the group decides on is a work of fiction, researchers and custom skins will not be needed. But if people want to make something like 'The Legend of Y-29' or 'Purple Heart Alley' we'll definitely need people to fill both of those roles.

So, with that caveat, if anyone would like to volunteer for those three roles, go ahead and do so.

I'd be interested in lending a hand if anyone will take me. I've done a couple of controversial movies in the past and my current project wasn't taken too well, but if there's a spare slot available I'd do what I could!

The Screenwriter position looks interesting, as does the Director position. I could also fly a plane or two or help Produce.

Welcome aboard, Thrustmaster. Glad to have you. Ok, that's three. Hey, we're getting there, huh?

I was thinking maybe we should let this run a week or so to give everyone who might be interested a chance to see this thread and decide. Then we'll have to sit down and finalize who will do what. We may have an abundance of directors, for example, so it may be necessary to narrow down some of the roles. But we'll decide that after we get launched.

S!

Ohhh YES YES YES !!!!

Take that as a yes.

Falcon said he's game over at VWC, so with you, BA, that makes five. At the rate we're going, this film may actually 'need' credits at the end.

Also, BA, what roles are you interested in? As you can see <cough> <cough> nobody has volunteered for music composer yet.

Also, everybody start getting your story ideas ready for submission. Let's go with this format:

-----------------------------------------------
Your user name:
Proposed film title:
Estimated film length:
Fiction or Non-fiction?
Setting: Pacific, eastern/western Europe, etc.

Write a one paragraph summary of the story.

Write up to two pages of more detailed explanation/summary of story. Include (if you choose) examples of dialogue, scenes, special effects, etc. Give us a feel for the big production.
-----------------------------------------------

Once we are ready, I'll have everyone email me their suggestions. (Do not post them here.) I'll email them all back to the group minus the user names of the authors. We'll all vote on which story we want to go with as our project. Potentially, story elements from more than one submission could be chosen. Anyway, start thinking about it.

Might as well chuck me into the mix somewhere if ya need any more.

ummmm... very interesting.

S!

I have more than enough audio software to cope and i would be deeply honoured to do the score.

Not my music of course but whatever the rest decide we use.

All i need is a rough video file to work with and i can do wonders with the audio.

Yes I volunteer for the Audio as far as the main soundtrack is concerned. I would also work closly with the sound effects guy whoever he may be to get the best effects for the film.

God im so excited.

I use Sony sound forge and ACID pro 5.0 for audio, plus i use other software to capture high quality sound over teamspeak for lines.

I have been building up my collection of music and sound effect for about a year and have some great ideas.

Can I have the job ? CAN I ???? Ohhh PLEASSSEEE !!!

S!

PS: IM 42 years old with 7 kids, just got excited above thats all

quote:

Originally posted by MrVH:
Might as well chuck me into the mix somewhere if ya need any more.

Absolutely! Our own little Industrial Light and Magic man.

BA, it's probably safe to say if you want the job of music man, it will be yours. Of course, if there are any more musicians out there who are interested, let us know. 'The Last of the Mohicans' had two composers and resulted in one of the best soundtracks I've heard, so it's possible to have more than one cook without spoiling the broth.

I wasn't sure if this would generate much interest, but it's great to see many of the old hands getting involved. Hopefully this will be the first of many collaborative projects.

Ntesla, I take it that was a "count me in"?

quote:

PS: IM 42 years old with 7 kids, just got excited above thats all

lol, maybe if you didn't get so excited you wouldn't have 7 kids!!

quote:

Originally posted by RAF-Blackace:
I have more than enough audio software to cope and i would be deeply honoured to do the score.

Not my music of course but whatever the rest decide we use.

BA, I think it would be great if you used music of your own creation. That would really help set this project apart from earlier films and make it a true product of the community. We don't expect Hans Zimmer quality. Just something very, very close. (j/k)

Yes, you can count me in!

Like to contribute in the story, directing and music.

A few thoughts…

All the enthusiasm in the world will do us no good if we don't have a decent story to make into a movie, so anyone involved in the project is welcome to submit a story idea. The role of screenwriter should be retained by the person whose story gets chosen for this project. That is unless the author would rather delegate that task to someone else. But I suspect whoever's idea is selected will most likely want to be the one to write up the final screenplay. That means, potentially, any of us could wind up in the role of screenwriter depending on who the group picks.

Writing a screenplay may be new to some of you who are used to creating films on your own. It doesn’t need to be anything terribly fancy. The screenplay should paint a picture of each scene, describe the action that takes place, list the characters involved and any dialogue they have. It can have camera directions for the director and any other instructions you want to convey to the group. It will be the roadmap for the other members of the group.

Once a story has been selected, it will be the job of the author to write up the screenplay for the film and submit it to the group for feedback. The group can then propose changes, etc. which the screenwriter will incorporate into new drafts which will be resubmitted to the group until we have a final shooting script. I don't anticipate there being a huge number of drafts. We could probably hammer out most of the details in three or so drafts. Getting from the first draft to the final draft can hopefully be done in a week or so.

Ideally, we'd all be able to sit down in a room together and hash out the myriad details involved in the film. I thought about trying to meet in a chat room for some pre-production story meetings, but that probably will not be possible. We're scattered all over the world in different time zones, and trying to get everyone together for a chat session isn't realistic. Therefore, communication will have to be via email. That's a less efficient way of doing business and means we probably won't be able to hash things out to the nth degree the way we would if we were all together. In other words, people in a given role will have to exercise their best judgment in making a lot of the decisions that will come up. Major decisions should be presented to the group, but for the most part, we'll all just have to rely on everyone to do their best in their given assignment.

As you can see, I've already made a number of decisions about how to proceed with this. I apologize if I seem a little presumptuous in doing so, but I think a project needs someone to take the initiative and make certain decisions. If every decision required for this project to come to fruition were put to a vote from the group, this film might never see the light of day. It could suffer a fatal case of 'paralysis by analysis.' Having one person (the producer) make some of those decisions can expedite things and get the project rolling. With that said, I think I'll take the role of producer off the table and hang on to it, although I may need to pass certain responsibilities off to someone else depending on the work load. Thrustmaster has expressed an interest in producing, so he may be asked to take on certain tasks. We'll see how it goes.

Perhaps the most important decision I’ll make will be in assigning roles to those who want to participate. We’ve had a great response already, and I think the ‘open enrollment’ period will have to end soon or we’re going to have too many workers and not enough work. I’ll try to give everyone at least one of the roles they’ve asked for. Some people have shown an aptitude for certain areas of filmmaking, and I’ll try to let people do things they do well.

All of you are skilled enough to produce an entire film on your own, but necessarily all of you will have to settle for a smaller role than you are used to having. Not only will you not have the level of control you’re used to, the distribution of ‘cool’ assignments can’t be entirely equal. Of course, the reason we’re all doing this is for the fun of creating a film as a community. And don’t forget you’ll be able to help produce a film for a fraction of the time and effort you would normally have to invest in a solo project. Hopefully, this will only be the first of many collaborative films as people realize and exploit the advantages of producing films as groups. You may not get as big a role in this as you’d like, but things may be different in your next group project.

A final thought…being a group project, I think it would be neat if many (if not all) of the people involved in this could have at least a small part as a voice actor. Keep that in mind as you craft your story submissions.

I think the Producer role was yours from the off anyway, GL2, but I'm glad you've officially taken it up.

I've started conjouring up a couple of ideas but so far nothing has made me think twice. I'll keep you posted (pun intended)!

Well, I can do flying and stuff. I specialise in ground attack aircraft and level bombers (but I suck at dive bombing), but can pretty much fly anything in the sim.

And I got me a cool sounding west coast scots accent

Hi GL2,

This idea of yours is ace, and by the looks of the response you should get some fine people to work on the project.

If i finish my latest movie in the next 3-4 weeks and all other real life needs are under control i would like to help out, but i can't give you a "yes" at this moment in time.

Great idea GL2

Again, it's great to see so many of the regulars expressing interest. This truly will be a community film.

Tooz, I'm sure we can work a good Scottish accent in somewhere. Consider it done.

Monty, I don't think I can claim credit for the idea of making a community film. People have suggested it at various times, but it just hasn't happened. No problem on the commitment, either. An editor position is still available and wouldn't require any participation until later in the project. We'll save you a place at the table.

Interest has exceeded expectations, so I think we'll let this run for the rest of the weekend and then launch things on Monday. I'll post a list of who will be doing what then. It seems most of you can probably have at least your first pick of positions. Some positions will clearly need to be shared; lots of people want to direct, but I think we can accommodate that. Scenes can be carved up and assigned to different directors.

Voice acting--not many of you have volunteered for that. The final script will of course determine how many roles we'll need filled, but (unless the group wants to make a film without dialogue) many of you will likely find a voice-acting conscription notice in the mail.

And there are a couple of people we definitely need to rope into this project somehow, someway, even if only for a minor voice acting part. For starters, there’s Viper and Wiley. Those two guys have probably done as much to promote the IL-2 filmmaking community as any. For any who don't know, Viper is the administrator of the Virtual War Cinema (see the link in my sig). His site has been a great resource for delving into the finer details of filmmaking. The serious filmmakers have been hanging around there for as long as I have known about this community. I highly recommend it to all filmmakers.

And Wiley (AKA fliegeroffizier sp?)is not only the de facto dispenser of the golden Olegs, he’s also the guy behind the late Wiley’s WWII Guncam Site. Up until just recently, it was your one-stop shopping center for IL-2 films. He had pretty much every IL-2 movie of any significance available for free download. Without it, I might never have given this forum a second look.

And there are a couple of old salts I'd like to see participate as well: JRJacobs, Maxwellsmart, Mysticpuma and Scragbat. When I first got involved in the community in early 2004, it was films by guys like them that sucked me in. And though I may have been a little anal in some of my critiques of their work, I have to admit they represent some of the best talent this community has produced. Their work certainly inspired filmmakers who followed. This would really be a special project if all of the old guard played a role in it. Of course, some (like Ntesla) are already onboard. Again, maybe we can coerce a little voice acting out of all of those guys.

Sorry if I’m biasing the group, but I hope we end up doing a film with enough voice roles to include as many people as possible. Even if a guy’s only line is, “Incoming!” It would be fitting for a community film like this.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: GL2,