Life

Life

New website.

Lately, I’ve focused my attention to building a new website. Somewhere I could host all of my interests on one page. The blog will stay here, because I like all the exposure I get with other WordPressians, but it will also be on my homepage.

Years ago, I found the perfect website Neon Sky. It has a clean look, easy to navigate, quick loading times and looks great on the iPad. But it’s too expensive for my budget. It runs around $600 a year and that’s just too much for me. I don’t get the amount of clients I need to afford the website.

Another site that I love, but is out of my price range is APhotoFolio. Again, it has all the great features of Neon Sky, including an app for the iPad, but it’s too expensive at a $1000 setup fee and $17 a month.

So a couple of weeks ago, I decided to just do WordPress and I built two different sites; one for my photography and one for my film-making. And I linked them all on my homepage (which is now defunct). And wouldn’t you know it, just a couple of days later I found the perfect site: Virb.

With a little tweaking, you can get Virb to look every bit as good as Neon Sky and APhotoFolio, but it only costs $10 a month. The only thing that isn’t as good with Virb is that your photos aren’t protected from downloading like they are with Neon Sky and APhotoFolio (the reality is if your work is out there, then it’s available to be stolen. I’ve watched Stephen van Vuuren create IMAX sized images from four mega-pixel NASA photos for his film in a basement movie Outside In, so anyone that knows how to screen grab can print their own artwork at any size they want). The best thing about Virb is the ease in which you can build pages. It’s far superior to WordPress, which is super easy itself, so that says a lot.

Anyways, this post is supposed to be more about me and not so much about Virb, but I love the site so I recommend checking it out. And check out mine as well. And if you could, buy something! It’s cheap, great art. Thanks.

www.ioannisbatsios.com

Getting back into the flow.

I’ve been away and unproductive due to a death in the family and my own father battling kidney failure. My mother was kind enough to move back into dad’s house to take care of him. I had to drive from my home in Winston-Salem, North Carolina to pick her up in Satanta, Kansas then drive her to Flint, Michigan. It’s been an exhausting month. I can’t wait to get my life back to normal.

While I was there, I took some pictures and posted it to my new photography website. I’ll be posting more photos there in a couple of days.

I sat down to start working on the script today and was surprised that I had no idea where I was with it and what was going on. I’m going to have to go back over my notes and re-read it from the beginning.

Meanwhile, I’m going to start doing Go Into The Story’s 1, 2, 7, 14 formula for increasing one’s skills at screenwriting.

    My plans for this week are:
  • 1: I’m going to read a script, that was written by a friend of a friend, that has won a couple of screenwriting awards.
  • 2: The movies I’m going to watch are Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol and The Avengers. Both look pretty good to me.
  • 14: And while driving through dust-bowl town after dust-bowl town, I came up with a great idea for a comedy drama script that I can’t wait to write. That will be what my fourteen hours of prep work will be towards.

    • Back to work.

    I took some time away. I did a little traveling. Went to Pittsburgh for the first time. Great city. I hit Pizza Palace in Knoxville, Tennessee while I passed through there. Pizza Palace is well-known because it was featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, one of my favorite shows.

    I had the lasagna and Greek pizza. I was expecting more ingredients on the pizza, but there was only feta cheese to go along the mozzarella. But it was delicious. The lasagna wasn’t a typical lasagna. It was meat sauce, cheese and noodles thrown together and baked. It was a little salty, but still good. It was a good cheap meal. I’d eat there all the time if I lived there.

    Anyways, back to work.

    Over the weekend, Steve Feek of Feek writes, took the time to read my script and gave me some great notes on how to improve my script. I won’t mention them all, but the best one was to change Sam’s occupation to a doctor and have his job somehow be related to his wife’s death. It’s just an excellent fabulous suggestion and alleviates my problem of the audience not sympathizing with Sam. Now, I can have Sam do just about anything and people will still feel sorry for him. Awesome. Thanks so much, Steve.

    Steve is one of the reasons I decided to post online. Why limit myself to the few people I know that would read it and offer feedback when I have the World Wide Web at my disposal? I think open-source writing could be big. Imagine the next Star Wars movie being a collection of great ideas from all the fanboys? I think it would be brilliant. It would need a head writer, director and producer to go through the crap and find the gems, but the possibilities would be amazing. Get on that Hollywood.

    I’ve changed the deadline to May 1st for a revised draft. I’m not sure how I should post it online since it will be introduced to existing pages. I’ll figure it out.

    Pages twenty-six through twenty-nine.

    I’m not finished with the following scene, but there is a lot to it. It’s been a hard one for me to write. I think this is my fourth rewrite of it already. I play a lot of poker and I know all the subtleties of it and I keep wanting to include that in the script. But that’s a big no-no. The more complex you make a script, the worse it becomes. You don’t want to include what a character is thinking or feeling, but what his actions are. You also don’t want to include what the screenwriter is trying to convey with exposition. You’re not writing a book. You only want to write action that the audience can see and dialogue. Everything else is unnecessary.

    (Pages 26-29)
    INT. CASINO

    Martin is sitting at a poker table with nine other POKER PLAYERS and a
    DEALER.

    The dealer deals two cards to everyone.

    PLAYER #3
    I fold.

    PLAYER #4 throws his cards into the muck.

    PLAYER #5
    Fold.

    PLAYER #6
    Make it forty dollars.

    DEALER
    Forty dollars to play.

    PLAYER #7 gives his cards back to the dealer.

    PLAYER #8 is getting a cocktail from the waitress.

    DEALER
    Sir, it’s forty dollars to stay in.

    PLAYER #8
    Oh, I’m sorry.

    He turns to his cards and looks down at them. He pushes his cards into the muck.

    PLAYER #9
    I call.

    DEALER
    We have one caller.

    Martin looks down at his cards and see two kings. He calculates before he acts.

    MARTIN
    I raise. Make it two-forty.

    DEALER
    Another raise. It’s now two hundred and forty dollars to stay in.

    PLAYER #1 folds.

    PLAYER #2 folds.

    Player #6 hesitates for several seconds before announcing…

    PLAYER #6
    I call.

    DEALER
    One caller.

    PLAYER #9
    How much is in the pot?

    DEALER
    I’m sorry sir, I’m not allowed to count it for you.

    PLAYER #9
    Two-forty, two-forty, four-eighty plus fifty-five is five-thirty. Eh, it’s almost three to one. I call.

    DEALER
    We have two callers.

    The Dealer scoops all the chips into one big pot. He burns a card and turns over three cards on the center of the table.

    King, king, ace.

    PLAYER #3
    Wow, what a flop.

    Again, Player #6 hesitates before he acts.

    PLAYER #6
    I bet three hundred and fifty.

    He stacks up the chips in front of him and pushes them forward.

    PLAYER #9
    That’s an easy fold for me.

    He mucks his cards.

    Martin plays with his chips as he calculates for several seconds.

    MARTIN
    I call.

    Martin counts his chips and pushes them forward.

    The Dealer collects all the chips and puts them into the pot. He burns a card and turns one to the center of the table.

    Two.

    Player #6 takes his time before he taps the table indicating a check.
    Martin takes his time as well.

    MARTIN
    I’m going to bet.

    Martin starts counting chips.

    DEALER
    Player has announced a raise.

    MARTIN
    Fourteen hundred dollars.

    DEALER
    Player has announced a raise of fourteen hundred dollars.

    Player #6 looks visibly shaken. He leans back into his chair and crosses his arms. He waits a couple of minutes before announcing…

    PLAYER #6
    I call.

    There’s a quiet murmur from the other players and everyone is leaning forward in their chairs.

    DEALER
    Player calls.

    Player #6 counts his money and puts them forward.

    The Dealer collects them and puts them into the pot.

    The Dealer burns a card and turns the river to the center of the table.

    Ace.

    There’s another collective moan from the table.

    PLAYER #3
    That’s unbelievable.

    Player #6 hesitates, but it’s shorter than the other times, before he announces…

    PLAYER #6
    I’m all in.

    Martin stands and quickly shouts…

    MARTIN
    I call!

    Player #6 turns over a pocket pair of aces.

    Page one

    After some thought, I’ve decided to go with option one: the widower that gets in deep with the mob. I really want to do option two, but I think it would be a much more difficult script to write. I think I’d have to deal with too much internal conflict and I don’t think I have the skills for that yet. And I chose option one over three because I think I’d rather watch Goodfellas more than I would The Accused.

    I’ve actually worked on this script a lot over the years and I had some good notes from a writing group I was in a couple of years ago, but I’m no where finished and I’ve struggled with the plot points and the action. I have some good characters and I have a twist at the end, but I want there to be a reason to watch it to the end. And the twist is a bit forced. I’d like to write a movie that doesn’t need the ending I have in mind, but I can use if I feel it would benefit from it.

    Here is the first scene. It takes place in our hero’s home in the middle of the night. He gets woken up by a phone call from the man he thinks is who he owes the money to. Inevitably, the man on the phone isn’t who he says and steals the money creating a whodunit scenario complete with several suspicious characters all capable of stealing the money.

    INT. BEDROOM

    Against a black screen a telephone rings.

    Ring.

    Ring.

    Ring.

    There’s the rustling sound of sheets as our protagonist, SAM GOLDSTEIN, goes to answer the phone.

    Ring.

    SAM
    Hello?

    VOICE
    Where the fuck is my money?

    SAM
    What?

    VOICE
    You fucking heard me. Where the fuck is my money?

    There’s more rustling as Sam searches for the light switch on the lamp.
    The light reveals a modest bedroom with a large bed and furnishings. Sam is alone.

    SAM
    What time is it?

    Sam looks at the clock on the nightstand: 3:14.

    VOICE
    It’s time for you to pay my money. Why haven’t you paid yet?

    SAM
    It’s three o’clock in the morning. Can’t this wait?

    VOICE
    If this could wait, I wouldn’t be fucking calling. I want my money.

    SAM
    Okay, okay. I’ll bring it by tomorrow.

    FADE TO BLACK
    INSERT TITLE CARD: THE CALL
    SUPERED: SEVERAL WEEKS EARLIER

    New Year’s resolution

    I’ll admit it — I’m lazy. I have a great life and am pretty content with everything the way it is, so my ambition and drive isn’t what it should be. I don’t worry about kids (don’t have ’em), mortgage (girlfriend pays it), food (it’s fairly cheap) or vehicle (paid off). About the only thing I worry about lately is the health and happiness of my parents and my girlfriend’s parents. It’s time to make a change.

    This year, I have only one goal: to have a script ready to shoot in 2013. I have several things I’d like to achieve on my bucket list and directing a feature length film is the number one thing on it. So this year I’m going to attack it with vigor. And I’m going to use this blog to help me.

    Every day, I’m going to share with the readers a page of the script with my notes and insights. I’d love to get responses, comments and ideas on how to make it better. Think of it as one big world wide writing group.

    Basically, the blog idea is to keep me from being lazy. I figure if I have to have something to share with people then I better have something to share. I’m only lazy on a personal level. When it comes to work, I work. I mean, when I had a job, I busted my ass and I don’t think there’s anyone that would say differently. Except maybe that one job at Fuddruckers. Sorry, Mary. So I think this plan will take me out of my comfort level and force me to be creative, and more importantly, just work.

    I still haven’t decided which script to write yet, so that will be my objective for tomorrow. I do know that I’ll be working with a micro budget. I don’t have financing yet, but I believe I can raise at least $50,000, if not more. So I’d like to keep that number in mind when writing (that means no car crashes). And since it’s a low number, I’d like to have as few characters as possible. In low budget films, acting is usually the worst thing in them, and I’d like that to be a strength in mine. So the less actors, the better odds.

    Here are some of my ideas (I may select based on feedback of what people would like to watch):

    1) A widower’s life begins to spiral out of control when he begins to gamble away his life savings and gets in deep with the mob.

    2) Burdened by debt, a young man begins to lose his sanity as his life gets more and more difficult every day.

    3) After he discovers his girlfriend has been raped, a student surgeon exacts revenge.

    2011’s 48 Hour Film Festival

    I took a step back this year from directing and joined my friend Stephen van Vuuren’s team as director of photographer. After last year’s debacle, in which I felt I failed miserably as director, I wanted an opportunity to watch a pro go to work and see how he handled the role and pressure that comes from helming a 48 Hour team. Needless to say, I learned a lot. I may go back to directing next year, but I had so much fun this year, I’m hoping that we’re able to keep the same team next year. This year was a blast and I’m very happy with our final product.

    The 48 Hour Film Festival is an annual event that is held all over the States and in several other places around the world. Each year, teams are randomly assigned a genre and then a character, prop and line of dialogue is drawn in which every team has to incorporate into their film. The film has to be made in 48 hours including editing, sound, score, etc., no exceptions. This year, we drew film de femme, Don or Donna Hastert who has to be a plumber, crayons, and “where did you go”.

    After the drawing on Friday we sat around discussing what our story was going to be. We had several good ideas from an exploitation film to a woman’s version of Starsky and Hutch. Having to take into consideration our cast and the abilities of our crew, the writer’s went off to write what we thought was a good idea at the time: a modern version of Straw Dogs.

    After about an hour or so, the writers came back and said they had something completely different in mind and after reading the script, I’ll admit, I wasn’t completely on board. The writers wrote the entire piece from one specific moment of revelation. After reading the script, I felt that it was gimmicky and that it exploits people’s religious beliefs. I also didn’t think we had enough material after reading the three page script as the 48 hour films have to be between four and seven minutes. I didn’t think this was going to work. The director assured me that the time wasn’t an issue and that he understood my misgivings, but I would get it at the end. Having worked with Stephen many times and have enjoyed almost everything he has ever produced, I had complete faith that he was right and I was wrong.

    I could give the details about how we filmed it, but there really isn’t much to say. This was the smoothest shoot I’ve been a part of since we made Invaders from Uranus several years ago. The only challenge of the night was finding locations. We wanted to shoot it at one place, but having specific needs, we weren’t able to find the perfect home. So, eventually, we filmed in two different ones and used stock images to help sell our story. If you watch closely, you’ll see there’s actually five different homes for our lead character.

    I just want to mention again how much I enjoyed this year and that I learned a lot about running a 48 hour team. Usually, in these types of community events, you often work with “first timers” as this is a great opportunity for people to experience making a film for the first time with relatively little investment. And while there is a lot of pleasure in watching someone experience the joys and hardships of film making for the first time, it does make it more challenging to have a smooth operation. Fortunately, this year, our entire cast and crew consisted of pros and I think it shows in our film. Enjoy:

    Here’s our entry in this year’s 48 Hour Film Project:

    Genre: Film de Femme
    Character: Don or Donna Hastert, Plumber
    Prop: crayons
    Line of Dialogue: “Where did you go?”

    Jaye Pierce – Eve
    Kirby Wahl – Don Hastert

    production sound – Anna McDonald
    makeup and art direction – Lindsay Golden
    gaffer and grip – Mickey Flyn
    script supervisor – Shelia Duell and Mickey Flynn
    “Ave Maria” by jacob arcadelt – performed by Sheila Duell
    music arranged by – Marie van Vuuren and Stephen van Vuuren
    director of photography and visual effects – Ioannis Batsios
    written by Lisa LopeZ and Stephen van Vuuren
    produced by Marie van Vuuren
    directed and edited by Stephen van Vuuren

    How it Ends

    And with a push of a button, it was gone. Respect. Confidence. Career. It happened so fast that it felt like an out of body experience. Like when Patrick Swayze watched himself get killed in Ghost. I love my Canon D-SLR camera and love how effortless it is to get cinema style footage from it. But there is one drawback to them — digital cards.

    I’ve shot a lot of footage with my camera and have gotten used to quickly swapping cards and batteries as it goes through a lot of both. And when you’re on a no-lo budget shoot speed is paramount. Unfortunately, last weekend, quickness and bad habits got the best of me. 

    After shooting four hours of footage, I went to make a quick battery change, and accidentally formatted my SD card. It was purely instinctual, like I’ve done it a hundred times. For some reason my brain equated swapping a battery with swapping an SD card, and every time I do that I format; a quality I hereby decree as bad!

    Well, that’s the bad news. The good news is the director didn’t shoot me, but quickly made a contingency plan. We re-shot the previous four hours in one and a half, while a PA rushed the formatted SD card to a data recovery expert who was actually able to recover all the data. The production was saved despite my attempts to sabotage it (and my career).

    The film we shot is for a local theater production called Silent Pictures written by Tommie Trull. The footage is to be used as a flashback / dream sequence of a silent film star. Below is a quick video I edited for myself to get a sense of where I wanted to go with it. The final film is 1920’s style black and white silent film, so I didn’t color correct. I used two songs. The first is Jane Doe by Never Shout Never, and the second song is by Devotchka. 

    Normally, I hate Christmas

    Once you get to a certain age, let’s say about 17, Christmas sucks. So much work needs to be done for one day it’s a little crazy. I almost always get extremely depressed this time of the year. With my family living so far apart and friends all over the country, it’s impossible to make everyone happy and that makes me miserable. So this year I decided to take a page out of Ayn Rand’s book and only worry about me. I decided to stay home and do nothing for once. And it’s everything I thought it would be.

    I’m currently working on designing a new webpage that will not be flash based. It sucks that Apple won’t give in to Adobe, but oh well. It’ll give me a chance to integrate my blog with my webpage and my webpage with my new iPad. So many platforms and browsers….good web designers are really worth their money. Hopefully, with the new webpage I’ll have my demo reel ready as well.

    Merry Christmas to the Christians and Happy Holidays to everyone else!