I think that the biggest issue is visual effects. Because, facing reality, the only thing our buyers really care about is the genre and the visual effects, right? I suspect that all the work we spend on getting scripts just right and nuanced performances and such are really just for us and have nothing to do with how well our pictures sell.
Which is no big deal. It's just nice to know that fact when we're racing to the finish line on getting a movie completed.
What surprises me though is how frequently I am able to just idiotically and without thinking blow things off -- really important parts of the story -- just because I'm too close to it. Last night our producer, the Queen of Mars, came by the studio and looked at footage. And what do you know? The first big decision our lead character makes, the decision which the second 2/3rds of the movie is based on, is absent from the cut. And yup, it's all because Mr. Derpitude over here didn't shoot the scene with it.
The decision.
Crimea if I don't know better than to miss those critical decisions. But knowing better and actually doing it right are two way different things. So I blew that one. I mean, it's simple enough to shoot. Get a closeup of your lead looking one way then another.
Lucky for us the Martian Queen found a bit of footage (just before the slate comes in, don't you know) which we cut into the edit of reel 3 which shows our lead making the decision to save the android.
You might be surprised (spoiler alert!) to discover that later on that android saves our lead's life. But that's another story. No, wait. It isn't.
If no off-world royalty ever came to give us notes, that very important story bit would have been missed. So although I might suck as a director, at least the people around me are really good. That helps mask my imperfections.
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Plus aren't we running slightly short? So adding more is good, right? right?
Yes! Moar!
I always thought it was the scantily clad or nude space babes that was the main attractions.
Until recently that's what I thought too. But our buyers don't seem to care much anymore. Maybe it's because there's so much free porn on the Internet that it's just no big deal anymore. I have no idea.
Oh, your being serious. Actually when I saw Pandora Machine it was the first Indie flick I could see, hear, and watch without losing the story or wondering WTF was going on.
I contacted you about what the heck that ending was about.
Hey thanks!
And yeah, the nudity thing seemed to be the number one thing to selling the picture. But not so much anymore.
The very end of Pandora Machine is a bit like the very end of 1984 except that Winston won. The android killed everyone who knew about him and the computer gave him a raise and destroyed all records.
Oops, end credits I mean. You explain the Central Computer was becoming self aware, ergo Winston getting the raise and a new ident. Always wonder if you'd revist that story again.
I... I don't remember the end credits to Pandora Machine. I know they ran long (because the movie was running short). But other than that... I don't remember.
I am sort of amused by the world in that movie. But nobody's clamoring for "Pandora Machine II". Yet. ;-)
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