doraemon10

Hi all, I've been on this site for a few years and I love everyones insiteful comments on films. The last few years I have been working on a few documentary films and would love to hear your input.

Here is a 9 minute clip for our film about mixed martial arts in Boston titled Fist. One day I hope to complete it.
http://video.yahoo.com/video/play?v...fc767f54.714359

Here is a trailer for our first documentary Buffalo Soldiers (2005).
http://video.yahoo.com/video/play?v...fc767f54.691535

Here's a link to my production company's website. www.blinefilms.com

Any comment is welcome, if you think it sucks let me know. THANKS EVERYONE!!

Sorry this is a repost of Fist (2007) i figured that title was misleading

Ketamine

First video not available. Too bad as I was interested.

Seantn

First AND second videos not available.

doraemon10

Weird... Ok well here are two more links that should work.

http://www.current.tv/watch/10946381


http://www.current.tv/watch/249801

And here they are embedded

<embed src='http://us.i1.yimg.com/cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/player/media/swf/FLVVideoSolo.swf' flashvars='id=714359&emailUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fvideo.yahoo.com%2Futil%2Fmail%3Fei%3DUTF-8%26vid%3D0f5469d5761dc139fc20b8ddfc767f54.714359%26vback%3DStudio%26vdone%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fvide o.yahoo.com%252Fvideo%252Fstudio%253Fei%253DUTF-8&imUrl=http%253A%252F%252Fvideo.yahoo.com%252Fvideo%252Fplay%253F%2526ei%253DUTF-8%2526vid%253D0f5469d5761dc139fc20b8ddfc767f54.714359&imTitle=Fist%2B%25282007%2529%2BClip&searchUrl=http://video.yahoo.com/video/search?p=&profileUrl=http://video.yahoo.com/video/profile?yid=&creatorValue=YWxsYW5zaGlub2hhcmE%3D&vid=0f5469d5761dc139fc20b8ddfc767f54.714359' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' width='425' height='350'></embed>

<embed src='http://us.i1.yimg.com/cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/player/media/swf/FLVVideoSolo.swf' flashvars='id=691535&emailUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fvideo.yahoo.com%2Futil%2Fmail%3Fei%3DUTF-8%26vid%3D0f5469d5761dc139fc20b8ddfc767f54.691535%26vback%3DStudio%26vdone%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fvide o.yahoo.com%252Fvideo%252Fstudio%253Fei%253DUTF-8&imUrl=http%253A%252F%252Fvideo.yahoo.com%252Fvideo%252Fplay%253F%2526ei%253DUTF-8%2526vid%253D0f5469d5761dc139fc20b8ddfc767f54.691535&imTitle=Buffalo%2BSoldiers%2B%25282005%2529%2BTrailer&searchUrl=http://video.yahoo.com/video/search?p=&profileUrl=http://video.yahoo.com/video/profile?yid=&creatorValue=YWxsYW5zaGlub2hhcmE%3D&vid=0f5469d5761dc139fc20b8ddfc767f54.691535' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' width='425' height='350'></embed>

doraemon10

For all the tech geeks out there we shot Buffalo Soldiers on a Sony Pd-150 and Fist is using the PD-150 and a Canon XL-1S

Kudama

Oh yeah? Well my films tell me things about you, too.


...

(I'll check 'em out when I get home. )

Groucho

Watch it again!

doraemon10

ok ok I should have called it "Tell me what you think of my films"... I was talking like Yoda I guess.

Troy Stiffler

Both are very well put together. Neither come across as 'the first time you ever did this'.

Not really into boxing (kickboxing, or whatever), so Fist didn't excite me too much. But it still has the quality of a well-made documentry. It doesn't have the 'gushing' subject matter that would make me want to check it out (such as...not to be too cliche...but a behind the scenes look at opponents with a history together). The guy's introspect was interesting to listen to. He was suprisingly very open with his feelings about himself and whatnot.

The second one was engrossing. New subject matter (for me, at least). Shots of the farm and community were very interesting to see. Given the chance, I wouldn't hesitate to watch it begining to end.

doraemon10

Thanks for your comments!! Buffalo Soldiers is about a small community of Jamaican migrant workers in Western Massachusetts we shot it on $250 and pretty much slept in the barns with the workers. It was a very long 6 months, but I think it came out pretty well. It was an opening night selection at the 30th annual New England Film and Video Festival and went to the Roving Eye Film Fest in RI.

Fist has been selected to be aired on Current.tv, we are waiting for one more release form and I'm sure Current will cut it to shreds, they have already told us our music is out... Oh well.

cfloyd3

I actually like posts like these and don't think about smart remarks unless it is some kid trying to be the next action film director on a $100 budget.

I am very much entrenched into documentary film and I shoot short documentary projects every weekend in preparation of my first attempt at a full length documentary beginning March 17th. The second documentary also interested me the most, it looks not only well done but has clearly engaging personalities. The 6 months time span spent is impressive. I hope for you the best in the future.

doraemon10

Thanks for your comments!! Buffalo Soldiers clocks in at 50 minutes, and it took us a total of 2.5 years to shoot and edit. The one thing I learned about documentary is your never gonna become rich doing it and you have to love what your doing or it's just not worth it. Buffalo Soldeirs did well, NPR did a story on it, it went a round a bit but we havent made any money off it. Then again we didnt do it for money. We had distributors tell us the movie moved them to tears but it wasnt educational enough, or its a beautiful movie but there isnt enough information about how damaging tabacco can be. The documentary was not supposed to be about tabacco or about educating people, it was about these people. C'est la vie. We learned after many people liked Buffalo Soldiers that it just isnt that marketable, so we did Fist. Fist has the blood and violence and seems to be getting good numbers on yahoo. Whats your doc. going to be about?

Muad'Dib

Ok wow, I'm going to have to go out on a limb here and say that everyone who likes MMA should have to watch Fist. Really enjoyed it doraemon10. I would really like to see the finished version one day.

doraemon10

Me too, we have huge things planned for this and we already have over 20 hours of footage. We are seeking funding now, but like everything in documentary it takes forever. We've been on Fist for over a year now.

doraemon10

Hi All, it's been ages for this thread.

DVDtalk has reviewed my movie On the Other Side. I am really happy they were willing to review it.

3.5 stars. Not too bad. I guess I will have to talk to my distributor about mastering the print.

The title has changed from Buffalo Soldiers to On the Other Side, they thought Buffalo Soldiers would sound too much like the African American troup.

What I have learned since is, if you are making a doc or anything shoot in HD. Recently we were turned down by PBS because we shot in SD.

Goat3001

Thanks for the links. I'll check out On the Other Side when I get home but I saw Fist Saturday night at 3am on Cinemax.

Kidding. I'm an MMA fan so I'm really looking forward to watching that when I get home. Congratulations on completing these.

Yakuza Bengoshi

doraemon10, I was the DVDTalk reviewer for On the Other Side. I'm sorry to read that PBS turned down your work for lack of A/V quality. While I can certainly understand their reservations, there must still be a good venue out there to get this documentary seen by those not willing to shell out $49.95(!) for the DVD-R -- perhaps as streaming content from Netflix or a lesser online provider of documentary content? If getting it seen by as many eyeballs as possible is your aim with this "calling card" doc (rather than earn a return), you could also consider releasing a "Copyleft" version for torrent distribution as Clifton Ross did with Venezuela: Revolution from the Inside Out.

Anyway good luck with your future projects, and I look forward to seeing Fist someday.

doraemon10

Hi Yakuza, nice to make direct contact with you. I really appreciate the time you spent reviewing our movie. I am really happy you seemed to get what we were going for. We had no interest in hitting viewers over the head with what we thought the issues should be, we wanted people to see how these people actually lived with a balanced eye. What ever opinions are made by the viewer are organic, we did not manufacture them. Right now the film seems to have a pretty healthy life at universities, there are a few professors that have added it to their syllabus, and often invite us to lecture on it's issues.

Again, thank you for your time, we all really appreciate it. I will be sure to let you know when (if) Fist is complete.