Why am I still a Solo shooter ten years in?

I started out taking photographs in High School I didn’t suck at it. I made films all throughout my life, even when I didn’t know what I was doing. I have always written stories. The first one I can remember was in sixth grade. It was awful and the actors were forced to be in it. But it was fun and I always have a story to tell. You can find my book listed on Amazon and Abe Books. You cannot buy one and there will probably never be another print run, but there it is.

I will probably write another book in the future. I actually have one that I want to finish called “Overwhelming Evil”. It is a story about a teenager who is being hunted by an evil entity only to discover that the real demon is something much worse. However, I have been writing that for about twelve years and I am only at thirty thousand words. Let’s just say, it will be a while.

The Beginning

I started down this trek of filmmaking as a hobby. I started making VLogs (Video Blog) in 2008 with just a webcam. I found the process to be more than just fun, I found it to be fulfilling. I bought a better camera and then got a DSLR. Thank God for the DSLR revolution! When I got my first DSLR or semi-professional camera, it changed how I looked at everything that I filmed. I realized that I could do more than just sit in front of it and talk. I could make my own programming. And make stuff I did. I made a bunch of little comedy shorts and a couple of dramatic things. I won my first film festival, then another. It made sense that I would keep it up. I really thought that I was on my way to something, and I still do.

I wasn’t schooled in the way of shooting or writing things those days. I just did it by the seat of my pants. My actors would sometimes ask me “what am I doing this for?” I would answer with “just trust me, it will work”. It did work for the most part. I only have one film I shot that no one has seen.

Summer Feature

I got to be one of the lead actors in a movie. too! You can find it on IMDB and it used to be on Amazon Prime but as of today, I don’t know where you can watch it. I had fun that summer. I got to run around and bother my co-star with crabby dialogue and somewhat witty banter. In post-production I had to save the movie from digital oblivion and probably should have received an Editor credit for that but, that’s ok. I got paid for that too. Always a plus. Made being out of work that year worth it. The really interesting part about the whole thing is that the entire thing was filmed on DSLRs. They didn’t have any studio type lights just panel lights as I use now, other than they weren’t as good. It was truly an independent film in every aspect of the phrase. I wish I could do that twice a year or even three times a year. It is, so far, as close to my goal of making a film as I have come and I didn’t even make the thing, just acted in it.

Live Television

Paul G Newton Live Broadcast TV Aircheck For Editing and Music.

About that same time, I went to work for 40/29 as the Chief Editor. It was a lesson in humility. I learned that no matter how good you are at your job, if you aren't on the TV, you are expendable. I suppose that is a little harsh, but it felt that way. I tried to be involved with the production and be a helping hand to make the show better every time it aired, I did. Anyone reading this that may have worked there when I did, I think you know that I just wanted it to be better. Or at least I hope they know this. But, in the end, I always felt expendable and more of a nuisance than anything else. In the end, I had to leave the station to retain my sanity. TV news can be the most stressful job ever invented to torture humankind.

Now, for the past few years, I have been doing product videos and testimonial interviews. It is fun, and generally, no one is breathing down my neck. But all these things I have created, the stories I have told, the commercials I have created, have all been done by me with no one helping. I did my own writing, filming, lighting, editing, and effects. Occasionally I would have someone helping with this or that (other than actors) but on a consistent basis, I did them all on my own and still make them by myself.

Product Videos and Commercials

Now What Do I Do?

That leads me to the question I put forth in the title of this blog. Why am I still a solo shooter? Why haven’t I been able to break through and start working on a production that tells a story not linked to a product? It flummoxes me to no end. I know how to do everything only because I have had to do everything. What can I do to move forward?

I am not one to settle and without some significant progress, I feel I am doing just that.

Since you are here and reading this, do me a huge favor and think about what you think it may take to break out. I know I need to relocate to where the stories that I love to tell and watch are being made and I am trying. It costs a ton of cash to just up and move.

What I think I need to do is make more films that tell stories. I need to create. But I know that is not enough. Very few people see my work these days. It is kind of scary to see the low numbers on my stats page. I do not aspire to become the next YouTube or Twitter star. I do not have dreams of becoming a millionaire from making films. I would be happy pulling down fifty to sixty thousand a year if it meant I was able to make stories people want to see. I don’t want to do anything other than telling great stories with great people.

I tried to make one this summer, here is a snippet. I hope I get to tell more this coming year.

I guess I will keep plugging along.

Review of Thor Ragnarok

I finally gave in and went to see the heralded Thor Ragnarok last night.  I did not want to see it, really, but many of the screenwriting podcasts I have been listening to, like The Curious about Screenwriting Podcast, seem to love the story. While I felt it had some relative fun aspects to the movie, I did not feel that it left me wanting to see more or other films.

The story structure seems sound, its flow was not interrupted with randomness or unnecessary scenes that failed to complete the mission of furthering the story. It did have redeeming character traits that made the characters somewhat likable and, on the first watch, the story seemed succinct. That did not spur my imagination and left me with a feeling of emptiness when leaving the theater. It was not a bad movie, and it did everything right in the way that movies are doing them today, but it didn't do what I want a movie to do and create a lasting impression upon my psyche that I can carry with me on my travels through my own life.

I do have to applaud the movie for trying to stay true to its roots in the 1970s, 1980's motif that the first one had with its cheesy subtitles and crummy music but even that left me rolling my eyes because of the recent phenomena of the Netflix Stranger Things. It actually cheapened it for me because I hate pandering, especially in a film where the movie has to hold its own for the sake of itself. Even though, I must admit that no movie seems to do that these days. A practice that I believe should still be first and foremost in the minds of the creators of any film yet has seemed to fall out of favor. 

The film opens with Thor being trapped by a Devil looking creature that makes no literal sense to anyone like myself... but there is a reason for the creature as it is blatantly and needed for the movie to have an ending. Unfortunately for this film, I knew exactly what this character's purpose was at about three minutes in. Ultimately telling me the conclusion of the movie and leaving no suspense or tension to make me WANT to keep watching. Then it did it again and again... Every new character that was introduced strengthened my guess and eventually left me with two hours of my time taken from me while draining my pockets of the money it took to purchase the ticket. At the end of the film, I found myself ultimately disappointed in the plot and story because at no point did anything task my senses or make me second guess the ending that was already completed in my mind. In fact, the only other movie that was more blatant about its end at the very beginning was a terrible film that had so much potential but the worst story ever called "The Others" starring Nichole Kidman. This movie is about a mother and her children who are haunted by ghosts, but it turns out that they are actually the ghosts. Something that was very thinly veiled at the beginning leaving nothing to the imagination and thus ruining the story.

One thing that immediately set off my alarms is when Thor losses his hammer just shortly after his father dies.  The only recourse for the character is to take the throne from the bad, bad lady in the Maleficent outfit and kill her with the thing holding Thor prisoner at the beginning of the movie. I mean they didn't even try. The fact that her horns and the horns of what could be mistaken as the devil from "Pick of Destiny" look exactly the same are just some of the dead giveaways. Needless to say, any entertainment value from this movie could only come from the crude and silly jokes, insider trading of the Avengers prior films and fighting. None of which actually advance the story or make any sort of coherent point that might stimulate anyone other than fanboys who would watch any Marvel movie with exuberance just because it is a Marvel movie, regardless of its content or quality.

I tried to enjoy the movie, I honestly did. The laments of Thor as he tries to be cool but just isn't are humorous and usually might make him more human but fail miserably and only serve to throw us out of the film and remind us that we are in a theater and not somewhere else. Then there is the CGI. It is supposed to be, but it looks horrendous. None of the places looked real to me at any point other than the short scene on earth where they are talking to their father. Everything else was half baked and cheap. I know what it takes to make stuff in computer land look real and have done it myself, and I assure you, it could have been done much better for an extra couple of hours worth of work. Not only do the locations look very fake and seem to make us want to believe that outer space exists in the land of Roger Rabbit all of the animated characters look equally bad. At no point did I ever believe Hulk was in the same room as Thor and not just some cartoon skillfully drawn but poorly colored.

I would say this movie is worth a watch on Netflix or Amazon Prime, but that is about as far as I would go. It isn't a terrible movie, but it's not that great either. Films should challenge us, make us want to be right next to the character on the screen and endear themselves into our psyche when we are done watching them. Genuine cinematic gold must contain something of lasting value that stays with you. Thor, Ragnarok doesn't even come close to doing this on any level, and it is a waste of time. If you want pure entertainment for the sake of entertainment, watch something else because this doesn't even accomplish that. Terminator 2 is better at just tantalizing your brain, probably because it's endearing and leaves you different than you were before you saw it the first time. Something this movie and most of its contemporaries fail to do.