The Babysitter, Dare to Direct entry Options

[America1]

Looks like there have been some cool entries to this contest... looking forward to watching them when available

Here's a semi-poster of mine. Hopefully I'll have it uploaded tonight.

[Mephistopheles]

Intriguing

[garagekubrick]

Graveyards and babysitters... how can you go wrong! Any chance of quenching my thrist for clip or teaser/trailer?

[tejeti]

Ooh, that's creepy. You usually don't think about the babysitter...or what she's capable of. That creeps me out. Yes, please give us a sneak peak of something.

[Georgiahoosier]

Graveyards and babysitters... how can you go wrong! Any chance of quenching my thrist for clip or teaser/trailer?

I was thinking the same thing. Hope a trailer is coming soon

[Mephistopheles]

I think garagekubrick is starting to get the hang of this! As soon as someone posts a topic we have to pester them for screenshots and trailers!

[pebblesmom01]

Here's a semi-poster of mine. Hopefully I'll have it uploaded tonight.

Looks like there have been some cool entries to this contest... looking forward to watching them when available

Reason for edit: Fixed it for you. :p

[Mephistopheles]

Yep

[America1]

Sorry, no time for teasers, trailers... I used up all my free time this last week getting this project shot and edited. My wife and kids want my time back, lol.
But Friday isn't too far off... then we get too see all of the entries... I'm pretty excited about that. And since they are all "Made for TV", in a sense, I can watch them all with my kids... grab some popcorn and soda and make a weekend out of it

[Mark Harris]

Sorry, no time for teasers, trailers... I used up all my free time this last week getting this project shot and edited. My wife and kids want my time back, lol.

Well remember, you can always show your kids your film and say: "Look what happens if you don't let daddy make movies....you get the BABYSITTER! Muhahahahahaaaa"

[America1]

Found it on page 11

http://www.chillertv.com/Dare_To_Direct/Vi...ery/31438.shtml

So far this has been a cool and fun contest with a great group of people.

Good luck to everyone!

[America1]

Well remember, you can always show your kids your film and say: "Look what happens if you don't let daddy make movies....you get the BABYSITTER! Muhahahahahaaaa"

LOL... they like the babysitter, but I think Bloody Mary would do the trick nicely.

*****************************************************************

Thanks for all the comments and reviews on our movie... posted here, in emails and PM's. It's cool to see some good constructive criticism.


Hopefully I'll be back with my reviews on some more entries Wed. or Thurs... had to take a family break for a bit.

1462 - yeah, you're on that list

[Loney Childress]

I watched the movies that had trailers first and then have tried to hit the ones of the people on the forum. Then I'm slowly hitting others kinda randomly.

The Babysitter was great. I really enjoyed this one. One of my favorites. It's one of the movies I've been driving my friends to as 'another' movie to come see.

[America1]

Thanks Loney

heads up... just about every year we have an Indiemeet in Las Vegas (that's the closest one to you) usually around Memorial Day, where a bunch of indie moviemakers get together for the weekend. I'll keep you posted on the next one if you're interested... full of fun, learning and networking.

[Loney Childress]

Thanks Loney

heads up... just about every year we have an Indiemeet in Las Vegas (that's the closest one to you) usually around Memorial Day, where a bunch of indie moviemakers get together for the weekend. I'll keep you posted on the next one if you're interested... full of fun, learning and networking.

Sure thanks.  My email is loney@youhoser.com (I'm a Strange Brew fan)

Let me know, I'm a bit new at this.  My first organized project was the Heinz Top This Challenge in August.  That was 30 seconds long.  I caught the bug and here's my second attempt.  It won't be my last so keep me informed.

[America1]

Strange Brew was a cool movie.

... and will do.

You did a cool job for a second attempt. The Red Wraith definitely has some cool moments. Some of those lines and scenes got stuck in my head, I still laugh at them. (intentional comedic relief clips)

[America1]

Kinda got quiet around these parts once Nice Doggy Neil left for Vegas, lol.

I know it's been advertised and I'm curious as to how many of the ChillerTV audience have seen these shorts. And what kind of attention it has brought to the channel. This contest has had an affect on us directors, that's obvious... just kinda curious about the viewers and the affect it has had for Chiller TV.

[America1]

Now that the voting is over, I figured I could go ahead and post the behind-the-scenes story of our movie.

Lead Actress aka The Babysitter - Laurie Alexander
Dr. Blackwell - Adam Mahan
Mrs. Blackwell - Stephanie Lewis
PA and Crew - Debbie Mariott

The Babysitter was created solely for entry into the Dare to Direct contest. I was watching the ChillerTV channel one nigt and noticed the splash on the bottom of the TV screen. Went to the site and checked it out. I had no intention of entering since there was only 2-3 weeks before the deadline. Although I have a few shorts in post production that would fit in the category, I thought the implication of the rules meant that an original short needed to be created specifically for this contest. I advertised the contest on our website and left it at that.
Then one day, as I was sitting at my desk, one of my daughter's came in to talk to me. As she was leaving, she said "The baby's crying." She was talking about her doll... and the idea popped into my head.
I had to think about production, scheduling and time for a bit, but the next day I wrote the script in about 5-6 hours. Free time during the week was spent on recruiting and gathering things together. Debbie took on most of that, she suggested some people for the cast and worked hard on finding a crib. I normally write using resources I have available to make production easier, and thought that we had a crib in storage but couldn't find it, so we desperately sought one out and found one a couple days prior to shooting.
We allowed 6 hours on Friday night for the main shoot, some of which were used for setup. And a couple hours on Saturday afternoon for the office scene and extra voices (TV and Ghost). Afterwards, Debbie and Laurie went to the cemetery for the photos, while I went back to editing.
Friday Night Notes - Shot at my house. We have 4 young daughters, 8 parrots and 4 dogs. My wife Sandi took on the task of keeping them quiet and out of the way while we were shooting. Natural house lighting was used for the most part. The blinking lights came from the use of an audio activated light controller and Debbie and Stephanie working the light switches in other places around the house. The baby's room had colored lights added and fog. Debbie was the chair and crib shaker

Saturday Notes - Debbie's house, for the office scene. The room has a high ceiling, so we brought in a ladder and set it up in the corner and I used a wide angle adapter on the lens to get that overhead shot. To keep the camera steady I taped the tripod to the ladder and ran the camera via remote from the floor.
A group of friends sat in a circle with the mic in the middle to capture the voices. (I had also emailed an out-of-town friend about recording some of the voices.)

For the following week I spent my free time, which is usually after bedtime, and worked on the editing. The overall sound sucked, something which I need to work on, so I spent a lot of time trying to fix it in post.

Misc. Trivia - The movie playing on the TV was the first short I ever shot (over 3 years ago and am now just finishing up post on that, lol), called "Haunted".
All of the dialogue during the scene where she is surfing the TV channels, although subtle, has a basic theme - "We're coming for you!"
The blackout in the middle was meant to be cut down, but somehow it got overlooked and ended up being too long for the entry version.
In the kitchen and TV scenes, you can barely hear popcorn popping... the popcorn sound was recorded by popping in the microwave and turning it off in the middle of the cycle to capture a decent recording of the lingering pops without the sound of the microwave.
In some shots Laurie's voice was too loud and ended up clipping the audio. We tried to schedule a session to re-record the audio, but she had developed bronchitis and lost her voice... so I just used what we had and tried to make the clipping less noticable.

It has been fun and we appreciate ChillerTV for having this contest... looking forward to the next one!

Richard M.